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Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! on DVD (1990)

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! cover art
Average rating: 67%
1114620181846
3.0
from 2,209 members
 
Starring: Victoria Abril, Antonio Banderas, Francisco Rabal, Loles Leon, Julieta Serrano
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Studio: PATHE DISTRIBUTION
Run time: 97 mins
Certificate: 18
User collections: My DVD Collection, Mixed Moods, Kat's super cool hit list
Genres: Drama, World Cinema
Languages: Spanish
Hearing-impaired: English
Subtitles: English
Released: 27/12/2004

Brief synopsis of Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

Antonio Banderas caught the world's attention with his portrayal of Ricky, an orphaned mental patient who stalks and kidnaps Marina (Victoria Abril), a porn actress and junkie, in order to make her love him in this decided departure for iconoclastic Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar. Suspense, tension, and uneasy humour mingle as Marina grapples with her addictive nature, a very bad toothache, and her own confusion about the need to be loved and the need for freedom. Meanwhile, Maximo (Francisco Rabal), an aging director who has just shot Marina's latest film, finds himself obsessed with her, while sister Lola (Loles Leon) worries Marina might be back on drugs and starts trying to track her down. The tension mounts as her sister closes in, and Marina becomes torn by her desire to escape and her growing affection for her captor. Almodovar followed up his hit WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN with this controversial, steamy thriller that contains nudity and some very passionate sex. The cast includes Almodovar regulars Rossy de Palma, Julieta Serrano, and Marfa Barranco and features a tense musical score by Ennio Morricone.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 2 stars out of 5 Radio Times

Actress and former porn star Victoria Abril is kidnapped by Antonio Banderas, who's recently been released from psychiatric care. He hopes that she'll eventually fall in love with him and start the family he's always wanted, in Pedro Almodóvar's unfocused and lurid tale of kinky sex and bondage. The fact that Abril does indeed fall for her captor makes this darkly orgiastic comedy of terrors and errors one of the more controversial entries in the Spanish wunderkind's cult camp canon. It's distressingly superficial and the disquieting knotty romance fails to convince, despite the incendiary chemistry between the two leads.

Halliwell's Film Guide

Shallow and glib, all surface and no substance, poorly constructed and flashily photographed, it nevertheless found some vociferous admirers.

Time Out

After the kitschy melodrama of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Almodóvar returns to the darker terrain of... Read more on www.timeout.com

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 3 starsSexy, stylish and rather challenging!

birdieann from U.K. , 26/01/2005

Ricky (played by a very cute young Antonio Banderas) is released from a mental institution. Being resourceful, optimistic, and single-minded, he heads straight for the studio where Marina, an ex-porn star and junkie (beautifully played by Victoria Abril), is filming a new movie with wheelchair-bound obsessed director, Maximo. Ricky is a romantic and is certain that if Marina gets to know him, she will fall in love with him. So he kidnaps her.

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! features all Almodovar’s trademarks: frankness, deadpan dialogue, glam kitschy interior design, absurd situations, unexpected responses, dark comedy, and some rather dodgy (or perhaps challenging) messages at its heart. The movie features two celebrated erotic scenes: Marina in the bathtub playing with a wind up toy and a joyous sex scene. Ironically, the former is much more explicit. Banderas pointed out in an interview (on the DVD) that the plot of Tie Me Up! is not so different from Beauty and the Beast which, needless to say, didn’t attract nearly so much criticism. He has a point – this is a kind of fairy tale, drawing on some human longings and motivations we don’t really want to acknowledge.

Personally, I’d rather be provoked into questioning the ethics of a narrative which is presented stylishly and rather sympathetically, than have this sort of debate quashed by those who deem the entire situation too un-pc to be filmed in the first place.

  9 out of 9 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsThe very best of Spanish cinema

seanindevon from Surrey , 19/02/2005

Cinema perfection. One of my favourite Almodovar films. This guy is a genius! If you like 'Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown' then I'm sure you'll enjoy this too.

Check out 'All About My Mother' - it's my all time favourite film from this director.

  5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsBest Almodovar for straights

A customer from London , 06/02/2005

This is by far the best Almodovar in terms of heterosexual kicks... Abril and Banderas are both very gorgeous so girls and boys are well served. Sexy and fun.

  4 out of 5 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 3 starsentertaining

A customer from Leicester, UK , 08/02/2005

Funny and entertaining. Not one of his best or funniest, but worth renting just for the bizarreness of it all!

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
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Most Recent Reviews

* * * This review contains spoilers * * *

Rated - 3 starsOK but not Almadovar's best

TheFlaneur from London [Highly rated reviewer] , 13/12/2007

The trade Mark Almadovar palette is present in this film, with its sumptious reds and blues along with familiar themes such as:drug addiction, desire,low lfe. But I really think that this film is paving the way for Almadovar's later and greater films which expand on these themes such as Volver and Bad Religion.

The jump from the main character not loving her captor to loving him seems sudden and doesn't quiet add up. However its still an interesting character piece and better than most Hollywood dross thats served up to the accepting public.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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Rated - 3 starsSexy, stylish and rather challenging!

birdieann from U.K. , 26/01/2005

Ricky (played by a very cute young Antonio Banderas) is released from a mental institution. Being resourceful, optimistic, and single-minded, he heads straight for the studio where Marina, an ex-porn star and junkie (beautifully played by Victoria Abril), is filming a new movie with wheelchair-bound obsessed director, Maximo. Ricky is a romantic and is certain that if Marina gets to know him, she will fall in love with him. So he kidnaps her.

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! features all Almodovar’s trademarks: frankness, deadpan dialogue, glam kitschy interior design, absurd situations, unexpected responses, dark comedy, and some rather dodgy (or perhaps challenging) messages at its heart. The movie features two celebrated erotic scenes: Marina in the bathtub playing with a wind up toy and a joyous sex scene. Ironically, the former is much more explicit. Banderas pointed out in an interview (on the DVD) that the plot of Tie Me Up! is not so different from Beauty and the Beast which, needless to say, didn’t attract nearly so much criticism. He has a point – this is a kind of fairy tale, drawing on some human longings and motivations we don’t really want to acknowledge.

Personally, I’d rather be provoked into questioning the ethics of a narrative which is presented stylishly and rather sympathetically, than have this sort of debate quashed by those who deem the entire situation too un-pc to be filmed in the first place.

  9 out of 9 people found this review helpful
Report offending content.

Read all highest rated reviews