Live Flesh

Victor Plaza, a young man in Madrid, meets Elena during a brief encounter, but when he goes looking for her afterward he finds armed police officers instead. A confrontation follows, a shot is fired, and one of the officers, David de Paz, is left paralysed. Victor goes to prison, while Elena, weighed down by guilt, rebuilds her life and eventually marries David. Years later Victor is released, still drawn to Elena, and begins inserting himself into the lives of both couples. He carries his own account of what happened that night, which differs from the official version, and his return sets off a tangle of love, jealousy and violence.

Pedro Almodóvar directed this Spanish-French drama, the eighth of the twenty-two films he has directed in chronological order, following The Flower of My Secret and preceding All About My Mother. He wrote the screenplay with Jorge Guerricaechevarría and Ray Loriga, and the film is based on a novel by Ruth Rendell. Liberto Rabal plays Victor, Francesca Neri plays Elena, Javier Bardem plays David, and Ángela Molina and José Sancho appear as Clara and Sancho, with Penélope Cruz as Isabel.

Made for about 1 million dollars, the film took roughly 5 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7/10 from 766 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 7.1/10 from 46 reviews, close to the audience score.