Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this boundary-pushing drama/thriller from celebrated Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar (and starring Antonio Banderas) is arguably his most perverse, controversial film to date, even more so than 2004's Bad Education. It contains kidnapping, graphic rape, nudity, sex, burn victims, murder, blood, pill-popping, and a forced sex-change operation, as well as supernatural elements and themes borrowed from the Frankenstein story. The English subtitles contain a few strong words, including "f--k" and "c--t."

Sexual Content

A man has sex with his daughter's rapist, whom he has forced into having a sex change. Several scenes of female toplessness and naked bottoms. There's a teen "orgy" in the woods, though nothing is shown other than the movement of bodies from a distance and "sexy" moaning sounds. Oral sex and teens with more than one partner are suggested. Some sex talk.

Violence

Very intense. A young man is kidnapped and chained to a wall. After a while, he's forced to undergo sex-change surgery and endless plastic surgery to change his appearance. There's one full-on rape scene (with clothes tearing and repeated thrusting motions) and another attempted rape. Several characters are shot and killed, with lots of blood. A woman tries to kill herself; viewers see cuts all over her body. A burn victim kills herself after seeing her reflection in a window.

Language

Language (in Spanish with English subtitles) is strong but not constant; words include "f--k," "s--t," and "c--t."

Social Behavior

Most of the behavior here is cruel and vindictive, and some of the motivation is bitter revenge.

Consumerism

Not applicable.

Drugs / Tobacco / Alcohol

A young man takes too many pills and confesses to being "high" during a party. He boasts at a later period that he has not taken any pills in "a week."