Almodóvar still has his fun in The Flower of My Secret, but he is no longer just a child thumbing his nose at the world.

| Dec 20, 2023

Though unlikely to gain the blessing of the Pope, the conversion of Pedro Almodóvar from romper-room decadence to something akin to adult drama may strike many as little short of miraculous.

| Dec 20, 2023

Not since Fassbinder has a director so mastered the trick of using "corny" dialogue at once to heighten and to ironise everyday tragedy.

| Dec 20, 2023

The Flower of My Secret is beautifully filmed and strikingly designed, but, more important, it is Almodovar's first attempt at a drama in the Tennessee Williams mode... it still shows a popular filmmaker challenging his audience and himself to dig deeper.

| Apr 5, 2022

There is not much of a plot; just real, romantically entwined lives -- a world away from the gaudy camp Almodovar had begun to tire us with.

| Dec 12, 2017

If it isn't as successful as his very best work, neither is it a failure -- and there are certainly enough Alomodovarisms to bring a smile to anyone's face

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 4, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 25, 2005

Dramatizes the contentious relationship between fiction and reality.

| Original Score: B | May 3, 2005

an archetypal romantic comedy that reshapes the mold

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 14, 2005

I found this dramatization a mature Almodovar work, perceptive and cutting through in an incisive way to the everyday problems in life that wear people down.

| Original Score: B | Feb 21, 2004

Though The Flower of My Secret is a slight work, it is a pleasing return to form.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 20, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 14, 2003

The movie is full of familiar Almodovar fare, but it feels freshened.

Full Review | Dec 11, 2002

Depicts the magical turnaround in the life of a writer of romance novels.

| Aug 27, 2002

Seems to go in a dozen directions at once but ties up in the final reel into a tight, cohesive and enjoyable whole.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 5, 2002

An intimate, beautifully wrought work, it reflects a new maturity in Almodovar's work and is one of his best pictures.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 14, 2001

Likely to be disappointing to Almodovar's admirers, and inexplicable to anyone else.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

It slowly unfolds from a narrow satire into a romance that's rich with real-life bitterness.

| Jan 1, 2000

A ripe, entertaining soap opera.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

It's bland as often as it is affecting, and presents little that's new or original.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000