Law of Desire

It’s thrilling, the plot unfolding like pages in an airport paperback — or perhaps, given all the sultry intercourse, a harlequin romance gone wrong.

This is one of the rare movies that's sensually exciting at the same time that it's funny.

Seventh feature by a Spanish writer/director hitherto unknown in this country: a lush, overblown, steamy, tragi-comedy murder thriller set in Madrid, there's something to offend and delight everyone.

Drama/comedy of romantic obsession, with Eusebio Poncela as a writer-director of gay sex comedies, Carmen Maura as his transsexual "sister" and Antonio Banderas as his infatuated lover/fan. [15 Sep 2006, p.C5]

Capably directed by Pedro Almodovar, but oppressively squalid. [24 Apr 1987, p.21]

Law of Desire never shows quite the spark of life, however perverse, that has characterized Almodovar's works to this point. [13 Feb 1987, p.D10]

What ensues is a fairly conventional story of sexual intrigue and danger, made infinitely more complicated by the colorful personalities of all concerned. What it lacks in depth, ''Law of Desire'' makes up in surface energy, with a lively cast, a turbulent plot and a textbook-worthy collection of case histories.