Almodovar's "All About My Mother"

4. The 'range' of women in the film, including straight women, a pregnant HIV+ nun, transsexual prostitutes, lesbians. What do you think the film states about gender, femininity and sexuality? The film questions the idea of femininity. In the film you have Lola who is man/women who is having sex with women and getting them pregnant, and Manuela she asks Rosa how she could sleep with Lola since he is a woman/man even though she did it to. The film seems to question whether or not there is a barrier between being masculine and feminine. In the film there is a lot of transsexuals. Manuela’s friend talks about being confused with a drag queen and being a transsexual, he says how he is no drag queen because he doesn’t walk around pretending to be something that he isn’t because he is a women at all times although he still has his male sexual organ. He talks as if he is an actual woman like he himself embodies what a woman would. Even in the film there were men who were trying to sleep with woman knowing they were men so it’s like almost saying questioning whether there is an, if any variance between a man and a women.

5. Who is the "mother" of the film's title? Might there be more than one "mother"? (Also, who is the speaking "I" - 'my mother' - of the title?) Why and how? The mother refers to Rosa and Manuela. I think that the speaker could be Rosa’s son because Manuela son dies and he never seems to really know the truth, but Manuela promised Rosa that she would tell Esteban everything and would hold nothing from him so it could possibly be him speaking and referring back to his childhood story. The story could also be told by both of the Esteban’s because the first half could be the oldest one up until he dies and then the second half could be Rosa’s son because he is the last of the Estebans and it would make since for him to finish the story that his brother left off on seeing that Rosa and Manuela is his mother and he is telling the story of both of his moms.