Julieta

Pedro Almodavar is one of the world's most distinctive auteurs - a lot of his films are female-centred melodramas with a rich colour scheme and deeply emotional content. "Julieta" follows the trend, and centres on a woman in her early 50s who seems to have a fine house and a loving partner, and is preparing to head with him to Portugal. But a sudden encounter with a friend of her daughter sees her suddenly calling things off with the partner and moving to a cheaper apartment to write the story of her past - of how she met a man, had her daughter and what happened between them to bring her to this point.

This is really visually rich, romantic, old-school cinema. It's a pleasurable emotional indulgence. If I have a mild criticism, it's that this doesn't seem to cut as deep as some of Almodovar's work does - that you don't quite get that moment where you're caught between laughing at the hysterics and weeping at the emotional wreckage. It's a very beautiful film that didn't quite capture me by the heart, but did at least give my brains a few things to do. So that's almost enough.