Homar’s odyssey

Broken Embraces saw the director collect an impressive cast, many of whom he had worked with previously – most notably romantic leads Penelope Cruz (in Volver) and Lluis Homar (in Bad Education).

City Times met Lluis while he was in town for the Dubai International Film Festival.

Tell us about your role within Broken Embraces.

I’m a successful film director, and I meet Penelope’s character Lena when I’m looking for an actress for my new movie. We fall in love, but her boyfriend, who’s very powerful, is extremely jealous. So finally he decides to produce the movie. It’s a very complicated relationship between the three of us. At the same time, there’s another woman who I’ve had a very close relationship with. It’s a dance between four characters.

What’s the movie inside the movie?

We are trying to do a comedy and we are living a tragedy in a way. It’s a contradiction, and it finishes in a very tragic way. The movie starts with Lena dying in an accident, which also blinds me. And I tell the story of what happened 14 years ago, covering what happened little by little.

Is Broken Embraces in any way optimistic?

It’s a realistic film. It’s tragic, but at the end there’s a sentence, “You have to finish the film, even if you’re doing it blindly”. So in a way it’s about carrying on, even though life sometimes isn’t easy.

Do you think the story is at all autobiographical for Pedro Almodovar?

In a way. He’s talking about his love of cinema – part of the movie within the movie is a homage to film noir, and there’s also the comedy. But beyond that it’s the way Pedro thinks about life and work – like a self-portrait in my character.

Is Almodovar demanding to work with?

Well, he’s a genius. He knows exactly what he wants in each scene. To work with him is intense and funny, and everybody always tries to give him the best they can.

Have you worked with Penelope Cruz before?

We met 15 years ago doing a movie, La Celestina, although it was a very small part for me, so we knew each other before she was a star. Working with her is very easy, she’s so nice and it’s very relaxed.

adam@khaleejtimes.com