Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There really isn’t much to Almodovar‘s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Atame! 1990) because it exists only to be daring or—if you will—transgressive, not to convey a shared vision of life.  It is also decidedly politically incorrect, which is okay by me, since it deals with a woman (a porn star played by Victoria Abril) who falls in love with her unstable kidnapper (and would-be husband, played by Antonio Banderas).

Abril doesn’t quite convince me as a porn star and a drug addict, but it hardly matters:  her acting is excellent.  It isn’t her fault that her taking up with the kidnapper is a rather hard sell.  Tie Me Up! may be rated NC17 for its sex and nudity, but it is utterly minor, if beguiling (or seductive).  And, no, the Abril character does not really care about religion.

(In Spanish with English subtitles)