- Cecilia Roth and Antonia San Juan in All About My Mother
Something unexpected happened during the revival of All About My Mother that I attended at the Siskel Center a couple weeks ago. About one-third of the way into the screening, the film skipped a reel, transporting the audience several weeks into the characters’ future and eliding a few key plot developments. I thought again of the French surrealists’ moviegoing game as I tried to imagine what I’d just missed—searching for clues in the dialogue and onscreen behavior—and, before that, as I briefly fell out of sync with the plot and had to enjoy the acting, sets, and costumes for their own sake. Seeing as Pedro Almodovar described Mother as a tribute to actresses who have played actresses (and as his sets and costumes are never less than interesting), I didn’t feel that inconvenienced. And for the record, the projectionist showed the omitted reel at the end of the show.
