I liked the way director Pedro Almodóvar had some fun with this picture during an opening scene when he had Esteban (Eloy Azorín) rename "All About Eve" into Spanish properly. It had the effect of drawing even more attention to the title of this film, "Todo sobre mi madre". It was also noteworthy that he provided an homage of sorts to two American movie classics, the other being "A Streetcar Named Desire". As for this story, I'm not quite sure what to make of it all. Try as I might, I can't imagine someone of basically a normal disposition like Manuela (Cecilia Roth) to be involved in so many dysfunctional relationships as she encountered in Barcelona. The search for her deceased son's father and her ex-husband was noble, but the journey revealed an entire retinue of people that would make your skin crawl under normal circumstances. The topper was the transsexual Lola (Toni Cantó), who turned out to be the ex-husband, and also the father of a baby by a nun! It would have to be explained how that relationship ever came about, as the circumstance is presented as given which is just too much of a fantastical stretch to warrant consideration.I don't know much about director Almodóvar, other than what I've read on his IMDb bio page, but if this picture is any indication, it appears that he goes for something of shock value to his stories. Which is OK I guess, but it would have the tendency to put off some viewers with his odd characters and even odder situations. It's curious how he attempts to convey the humanity of his characters, but it's also enlightening to know how he actually describes some of them - "If I lived like my characters, I would have been dead before I made sixteen films". Which seems to illustrate my point.

Almodóvar is famous for repeatedly and warm-heartedly depicting women, men, transgenders and homosexuals without caring much about taboos.In "All About My Mother," he does this again, with well-written dialogues, portraying people with universal problems of love, loss, sickness and death. Like few other male writers and directors, he seems able to grasp and convey the sentiments and situations of persons that, in different ways, live in the shadow of the patriarchy.

Many themes are mixed in 'All About My mother' and the best part is that it does not care about them at all. Movie has it's own pace, the goal set in start is lost somewhere to pursue important ones. It also clarifies how does a loss changes the point of view and feelings for someone. Reshaping one's own life over one's sorrow. Although set in Spain, it have major south American influence on characters and their lifestyle as well as technical departments. Like most of Pedro Almodovar, woman oriented turns into genderless story of people who are dealing with grief, regret while struggling with life to go on. 'Innocence does know itself' would perfectly describe the movie.

After her only son dies in an accident, a single mother (Cecilia Roth) goes searching for the boy's father, a randy transvestite, and falls back into her old group of friends including drag queens, prostitutes and actresses.There isn't a very strong plot in this follow-up to Carne Tremula, but there's tons of atmosphere and fascinating characters, and everybody acts their hearts out, especially Roth and Antonia San Juan. Penelope Cruz is also good as a social worker with AIDS whom Roth takes under her wing. It's a continuation of the themes of grief, helplessness and fate from Almodovar's 1997 masterpiece but it's much less stylized, more sensitive and character-centered.