I walked out of the theater on air, with that charge you only get from an uncommonly affecting cinematic experience. Alive, giddy, with a love for movies.

| Jul 2, 2021

Broken Embraces shows Almodóvar at his most self-indulgent and self-referential... [but] the film's cinematography is bewitching and Cruz has never been more incandescently gorgeous.

| Nov 24, 2020

In much the same way it is difficult to describe a Hitchcock film without giving away too much of the film, the same is true for Almodovar.

| Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 4, 2020

Broken Embraces is loaded with the kind of incident that makes other filmmakers seem like a plain chicken dinner next to the all-you-can-eat international smorgasbord of Almodóvar.

| Jan 23, 2020

While its self referencing love of cinema is a feast for any cinephile, I can't help but feel that the film ultimately just runs out of gas.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 5, 2019

Broken Embraces moves us with flashes of real beauty. But somehow, instead of setting up house in our memory it departs quickly and lightly when it is done.

| Mar 13, 2019

Broken Embraces is certainly moody, and that's one of its charms. But behind the style is disappointing substance, a melodramatic story that's as old as Hollywood.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 22, 2018

Cruz delivers a role with wit and elegance, but there's a vacuum sapping the energy she tries to offer. So much for a film that tries too hard to be original.

| Jan 2, 2018

Since her star-making turn in Volver, Cruz has evolved into a great actress, whose films the audience longs to return to: she and Almodóvar have created whole and complete worlds. Indeed, Broken Embraces mirrors our own - but brightly.

| Sep 18, 2017

... Broken Embraces is a well-written story of a love so precious it hurt.

| Original Score: B+ | Sep 11, 2017

The entire third act is anticlimactic and forgettable, and one has to wonder why Mr. Almodóvar has to let his penchant for melodrama ruin a well executed noir.

| Oct 7, 2015

Though the film offers nothing new for the eyes, its wordiness ultimately acts as a complement rather than a drawback to Almodóvar's masterful storytelling.

| Sep 24, 2014

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 17, 2011

| Original Score: A- | May 6, 2011

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Apr 4, 2011

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 3, 2011

Almodóvar and Cruz fail to engage this time around.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 31, 2010

Continues the director's streak of reliably elegant, original works, making the case, once again, that there are few other European directors working today who can match his particular blend of thought-provoking, artful, yet wholly accessible cinema.

| Original Score: 8.1/10 | Jul 4, 2010

Um dos piores trabalhos de Almodóvar, aqui totalmente entregue à auto-indulgência, ao melodrama barato e às caricaturas (o que não é novidade), mas sem a sensibilidade costumeira que normalmente contrabalança seus excessos.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jun 19, 2010