General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Broken Embraces

Broken Embraces (Spanish: Los abrazos rotos) is a 2009 Spanish drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Penélope Cruz, Lluís Homar, Blanca Portillo, José Luis Gómez, Tamar Novas, and Rubén Ochandiano¹^•². It tells the story of a blind former film director who, under his pseudonym Harry Caine, recounts the affair with an actress that ended in a car crash on Lanzarote, costing him both his sight and the woman he loved³. The film was produced by Almodóvar's company El Deseo and was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival¹^•⁴.

Key fact	Detail
Original title / year	Los abrazos rotos; Spain, 2009, drama¹
Director and writer	Pedro Almodóvar; produced by El Deseo (producer Esther García)¹^•⁵
Principal cast	Penélope Cruz (Lena), Lluís Homar (Mateo Blanco / Harry Caine), Blanca Portillo (Judit García), José Luis Gómez (Ernesto Martel), Tamar Novas (Diego), Rubén Ochandiano (Ray X)²^•⁶
Key crew	Cinematography Rodrigo Prieto, music Alberto Iglesias, editing José Salcedo⁵
Spanish release and box office	Released 18 March 2009; grossed €4,173,100.04 in Spain on 696,722 admissions⁷
Running time	Approximately 122 minutes as classified by the BBFC; the Spanish ICAA database lists 130 minutes²^•⁷
Festival profile	Official selection at Cannes 2009 and Toronto; closing night selection of the New York Film Festival⁴

Spoilers

Plot

The film opens in the present with Harry Caine, a blind writer living in Madrid who signs his literary work with that playful pseudonym; his real name is Mateo Blanco, the name he once used as a film director³. Fourteen years earlier he suffered a brutal car crash on the island of Lanzarote in which he lost not only his sight but also Lena, the love of his life³. After the accident he reduced himself to his pseudonym, surviving on the idea that Mateo Blanco died on Lanzarote alongside Lena³.

In the present he gets by thanks to the scripts he writes and the help of his former production manager, Judit García, and her son Diego, who works as his secretary, typist, and guide⁸. One night Diego has an accident, and while Harry sits up with him he tells the story of his past as if it were a tale told to send a child to sleep⁸. The story is framed by a photograph of two lovers embracing, torn into pieces, which gives the film its title⁸.

The flashback centers on a love triangle. Lena, played by Penélope Cruz, is the mistress of the wealthy businessman Ernesto Martel, who funds the film Mateo is directing so he can keep an eye on her; when she leaves him for the director, jealousy and revenge follow, ending in the crash⁹. In the present, a visit from the young filmmaker Ray X, who wants to make a film about the recently deceased Ernesto Martel, prompts Harry's reckoning with his past¹⁰.

The film within the film

Broken Embraces is built around films inside the film. Mateo's movie Girls and Suitcases is a re-envisioning of Almodóvar's own Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), with cameos from veteran Almodóvar actors such as Chus Lampreave¹⁰. Ernesto's son is hired to shoot a video documentary about the making of Girls and Suitcases, under the pretext of which he spies on Mateo and Lena¹¹. Critics noted the resulting structure as a film within a film within a film, and a study of the filmmaking process itself¹²^•¹¹.

Lanzarote and the origin of the project

The project began with a photograph. Almodóvar took it nine years before the shoot, on his first visit to Lanzarote, on the beach next to the Charco de los Clicos in El Golfo, and only later noticed that he had unwittingly captured a couple embracing in a corner of the frame¹. In the publicity guide he described the island's effect on him: "I had never seen such dramatic colors in nature. For me it was not a landscape, but a state of mind, a character. From that moment on I wanted to shoot there."¹

Locations. The film was shot at several classic Lanzarote sites, including Timanfaya and La Geria, with particular use of Famara, a beach of almost four kilometers of sand at the foot of the Risco de Famara cliff, and the Jameos del Agua, a section of an underground volcanic tube reshaped by the Lanzarote artist César Manrique¹. Almodóvar met Manrique on his first trip to the island in 1986 and has described himself as a passionate admirer of both the island and the artist¹. The fatal car crash in the story takes place on Lanzarote, at a roundabout beneath a mobile sculpture by Manrique¹³.

Release

The film was released in Spain on 18 March 2009⁷. It then rolled out across Europe through the autumn, opening in Belgium and France on 20 May 2009, the United Kingdom on 28 August 2009, Italy on 2 October 2009, and other territories through late November³. Sony Pictures Classics released it in the United States in limited release on 20 November 2009¹⁴. A Spanish-language short shot on the film's kitchen set, La concejala antropófaga, circulated in the month before the premiere and served as promotion for the feature¹⁵.

Reception

Box office. In Spain the film sold 696,722 admissions and grossed €4,173,100.04⁷. In the United States it earned about $5.0 million¹⁴.

Critical response. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 82% Tomatometer from 156 reviews and a 75% audience score; the site's critics consensus calls it not Almodóvar's finest work but a noirish tale with his signature visual brilliance and first-class performances¹⁴. Reviews were divided along a consistent line. Time Out's Dave Calhoun gave it four of five stars, calling it Almodóvar's longest film and "a beautiful love letter to cinema," while noting it demands more thought than feeling¹⁶. A second Time Out review was cooler, giving three stars and finding the film stilted despite its color and sensuality¹⁷. The Los Angeles Times praised the Cruz-Almodóvar pairing and the film's layered irony¹⁸, while Reverse Shot judged it an auteurist stumble, technically controlled but lacking an emotional center¹⁹.

Awards. Alberto Iglesias won the European Film Award for Best European Composer in 2009 and the Goya for Best Music in 2010³^•²⁰. Penélope Cruz received the Fotogramas de Plata for Best Spanish Actress, and the film won the Satellite Award for Best Foreign-Language Film²⁰.

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Film noir and neo-noir films › Released 1977 to 2022

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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