Click here to copy URL

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

¡Átame!

1989

Pedro Almodóvar

Antonio Banderas, Victoria Abril, Francisco Rabal, Loles León ...

6.5

19,972

Drama. Comedy. Romance Antonio Banderas plays Ricky, an orphan who spent most of his youth escaping and returning to the orphanage. Upon his release, he goes to find B-movie actress Marina and kidnaps her in her own home. Ricky is desperate to get Marina to love him, although he keeps her tied up while he goes out to buy drugs for her. The plot centres around these two and Marina's sister, Lola, finds her tied to Lola's bed and they make a dash to escape.

	Media	Author	Review
		Variety	"Almodovar’s inventive direction, superb lensing by Jose Luis Alcaine, a fine score by Ennio Morricone and top technical credits make pic a pleasure to watch."
		Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"This story has been told before, and better (...) It's most entertaining in the quiet times in between the big moments (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"
		Vincent Canby The New York Times	"A surprisingly tame comedy (...) Mr. Almodovar's comic invention runs out too soon, leaving the audience to giggle weakly in anticipation of the big laughs and disorienting shocks that never arrive."
		Rita Kempley The Washington Post	"A writer-director driven by his passion, Almodovar allows his movies to moan and sweat and writhe. Sex looks like sex, not pornographic but messy and warm."
		Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly	"Seamlessly crafted yet too self-conscious to be much fun. It’s the characters’ emotions that seem in bondage."
		Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Divided feelings are at the heart of Almodóvar's disturbing and invigorating film, another masterwork from Spain's most explosive talent."
		Clayton Dillard Slant	"Almodóvar’s brilliance here isn’t merely a potpourri of references, colors, and camp; rather, it’s within his probing of cinematic sexuality (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Damon Wise Empire	"Well-meaning but casually empty, in comparison to Almodovar's later works (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.