a standoff .
a man holds a woman , a diplomat’s daughter , hostage in his embrace , a gun pressed to her head .
a cop , impaired by drink due to his wife’s philandering , trains his gun on the man’s nether regions , threatening to shoot .
another cop holds his gun to his partner’s temple , forcing him to disarm .
the scene unfolds like a foursome bidding in bridge–upping the ante , signaling tacitly , going for game .
the second cop retrieves the first cop’s weapon , the suspect lowers his , and the woman caught in the middle moves–in slow motion–to safety .
it is then that the intoxicated officer makes his move , grabbing for the assailant’s gun .
the room turns upside down , a shot rings out , a cop is down .
shot in the back and paralyzed for life .
the young man who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time is sent to prison for six years for a crime he didn’t commit .
storytelling has always been one of pedro almod ? var’s greatest gifts and in ” live flesh ” he gives us a twisting , turning , compelling tale peppered with well-written , colorful characters .
characters who find themselves , more often than not , in carefully-constructed scenes like these .
characters played by actors we might not know , but who look strikingly familiar nevertheless .
take the ruggedly handsome victor plaza ( liberto rabal ) , for instance .
before he gets out of prison he could easily be mistaken for that almod ? var favorite , antonio banderas .
when we first meet elena ( francesca neri ) , the woman in the middle of the nervous shakedown , she looks like spice girl barbie with her frizzy shock of orange hair , but later tones down her look sufficiently to pass for juliette lewis .
elena’s husband david ( javier bardem ) is the cop crippled in the shooting and he wears david schwimmer’s bemused expression throughout .
playing the inebriated cop and his cheating wife are jos ? sancho and angela molina–no lookalikes spring to mind , but they round out the excellent cast .
it’s a credit to almod ? var’s craft that these five individuals cross paths and intertwine with such credulity .
” live flesh ” begins and ends with a live birth and the film’s contradictions come almost as often as the contractions .
between the two childbearings , coincidence , irony , and a hefty dollop of sex form the key elements of this thoroughly entertaining film .
although based on a ruth rendell story , ” live flesh ” is brimming with the acclaimed spanish director’s high-heeled flourishes .
women are at times alluring and repulsive , their extravagant hairdos and animal print coats providing colorful highlights to the intricately-woven drama , an eye bruised by an abusive husband here , a mouth bloodied by an impromptu delivery there .
while in prison , victor learns bulgarian from an inmate and learns to love the bible , quoting from deuteronomy thereafter not unlike the way by which david and sancho refer to themselves as ” guardians of a sick flock . ”
victor’s pre-fab inheritance is a shambles in a slum resembling sarajevo .
” dear son , i got cancer ” his mother writes to him in jail .
she dies before he is released and it’s at the cemetery that victor is reacquainted with elena–redemption , ultimately , substituting for revenge .