ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER (TODO SOBRE MI MADRE) Closing Night Gala

There is a Greek saying that only women who have washed their eyes with tears can see clearly. The saying does not hold true for Manuela. The night a car ran over her son Esteban, she cried until she was completely dry. And far from seeing clearly, she now finds the present and the future mixed up in the same darkness.

At the hospital the night Esteban dies, Manuela reads the last lines her son wrote in his notebook about his unknown father: “I want to meet him, I don’t care who he is, or how he behaved with my mother. No one can take that right away from me.” In honor of her son’s memory, Manuela vows to search for Esteban’s father, to tell him of his son’s last wish. When she finds him, Manuela will finally be forced to reveal that she was pregnant with his son eighteen years ago when she abandoned him. But first she will have to find him. And the search for a man named Lola cannot be simple.

Almodovar was named Best Director at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER, a brilliantly executed and emotionally satisfying work that showcases his distinct brand of filmmaking.