Interview

Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedrin, Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ulman, George Cukor and Katherine Hepburn–the right muses bring out the best in even the finest directors. Few know this better than Pedro Almodovar, whose collaborations with Penelope Cruz have resulted in some of the best films of the last two decades. In Almodovar's newest film, Broken Embraces, this intense relationship becomes the basis for a noir-ish tale of jealousy run amok on a film set. Cruz plays an aspiring actress, Magdelena, the producer's mistress, the director's lover, and the film's fresh-faced ingénue. It's a role that requires a performance two parts Joan Collins, one part Audrey Hepburn.

The credits play over a blurred image of an unfamiliar woman.  The lighting changes and the camera lens focuses, and Cruz appears. Her character appears only in flashbacks from the mind of an infatuated (fictional) director. Set in the early 1990's, Cruz's wardrobe is drawn from the fantastic archives of Lacroix, Armani, and Versace.

The Heart of Gold LBD
After a brief introduction as an overworked secretary clad in office separates sad even for 1992, Cruz reappears two years later in a killer black dress draped in heavy gold chains and some intense eye make-up. Reminiscent of Versace's infamous safety-pin dress, the dress looks like it might have just walked off the runway in 1994. Although she looks like a femme fatale, Magdelena is more mistress-with-a-heart-of-gold, trapped by an elderly boyfriend. Stuck in a mausoleum of a house, Cruz looks like she can barely breathe in her weighted cocktail dress.

Suit of Armor
In a climatic scene, Cruz appears in a fire red suit and a pair of dangerously high heels, with hair and makeup to match. Looking a bit like Lauren Bacall via Dynasty, Cruz's Magdelena has shed her earlier naivety and warmth.  As she slowly climbs a marble staircase to face the music, Magdelena wears her suit like Moschino brand armor.  

Holly-Go-Lightly
As a counterpoint to her high drama look of a well-kept mistress, Magdelena's look in the fictitious film Girls and Suitcases is distinctly lighter.  With her hair up in an Audrey Heburn-esque pony tail, Magdelena runs around her Technicolor apartment with an air of insouciance absent from the rest of the film. Replacing the ornate tailored clothing, Magdelena is dressed in Mod shift dresses and Capri pants.  Her scenes (based on Almodovar's early film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) are the most lively of the whole film.  In a brown and white sleeveless shift, Magdelena for the first time is unburdened by her clothing.