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Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990,
Sp.) (aka Atame!)
In writer/director Pedro Almodovar's Technicolored,
dark, offbeat comedic and unconventional love story (a captor-captive
tale) about how monogamy can be a metaphor for power games and chained-up
bondage, sometimes accused of depicting the victimization of women
via abduction - similar in part to William Wyler's film The Collector
(1965) and The Night Porter (1974, It.) - [Note: It was
the last film to receive the MPAA's X-rating due to its depiction
of forced bondage and rape - however, it was re-rated and released
as an NC-17 film]:
- the release (to "rejoin society") of unstable,
moronic, dull-witted, 23 year-old mental patient Ricky (Antonio
Banderas), an ex-handyman in psychiatric treatment in modern-day
Madrid
- the character of actress Marina Osorio (Victoria Abril)
- an ex-porn star and recovering heroin-junkie addict, seen as disordered,
unintelligent, irresponsible, and flighty
- the image of Ricky outside a candy shop window with
the reversed 'O' in the sign positioned over his face - looking like
a diver's mask
- the controversial, memorable and infamous masturbatory
bath scene of Marina with a vibrating, wind-up toy diver that swam
straight into her crotch and then proceeded up her chest
- the scene of Marina's acting as a B-movie star (a
film-within-a-film) on the set of crippled, wheelchair-bound, lecherous
director Maximo Espejo (Francesco Rabal), who was making his last
movie - it was a second-rate Euro- horror spin-off titled The
Midnight Phantom (featuring an S&M-like, half-man, half-undead,
masked muscle-bound killer); in the scene Marina vanquished the
'phantom' by swinging from a balcony with a rope that strangled
him; off-set, Maximo was sexually-obsessed with Marina and would
masturbate to her porn films
- the pair of scenes of Marina and her sister Lola (Loles
Leon), Maximo's assistant, urinating on a toilet
- Ricky's love-sick fixation and obsession with his
favorite actress Marina, whom he confronted in her apartment (where
he had earlier delivered a heart-shaped box of chocolates) and head-butted
her to keep her quiet; he claimed that they had met once before at
Lulu's bar for a one-night fling, but she didn't remember him: "We
met once a year ago at a bar named Lulu's. Remember? I'd just escaped
from the institution. We met by chance at Lulu's. We went to your
place and f--ked. You don't remember? I promised to come back and
protect you...I'm here to prove it"; he declared his devotion
and love: "I'm 23 years old, I have 50,000 pesetas, and I'm
alone in the world. I'll try to be a good husband to you and a good
father to your children"; she protested: "I'll never love
you - ever!"
- Ricky's abusive, degrading and hostage-taking of Marina
so she wouldn't run away - he often mistreated her by gagging and
tying her up in an unusual attempt at courtship to win her affection
and heart: ("I had to kidnap you so you'd get to know me. I'm
sure you'll get to love me as I love you")
- the sequence of the couple, metaphorically and literally
handcuffed together by the wrists and making a late night visit to
friendly, single mother dentist-doctor Berta (Maria Barranco) (who
offered a joint) with two young babies, and a fornicating pharmacist
(Concha Rabal) (with a holster and gun) behind the store's front
, to procure strong painkillers for Marina's aching tooth
- the flamenco-scored ersatz TV commercial, inserted
by the director, comparing Nazi-uniformed, hard-working Germans with
fun-loving Spaniards in retirement (the former planned smartly and
dutifully for their future, while Spaniards were hedonistically tango-dancing
and enjoying themselves for the short-term)
- the in-joke of the constrained Marina using the TV
remote control to watch Night
of the Living Dead (1968)
- Marina's gradual loosening of resistance and voluntary
submission to being his captive (the Stockholm Syndrome), especially
after freshly-wounded Ricky was beaten up by a group of drug dealers
led by a female on a Vespa scooter (Rossy De Palma) he had swindled
earlier, as he attempted to procure strong painkillers for her; she
became maternally nurturing toward him and tended to his serious
injuries
- their intense love-making scene; although in pain,
he asserted he could continue: "The only thing the bastards
didn't touch was my cock"; during their sweaty and realistic
sexual intercourse (seen from various angles, including a kaleidoscopic
top view), she suddenly remembered her previous one-night stand with
him: ("You said we'd screwed before, and I said I didn't remember.
Well, now I remember, perfectly")
- the conclusion's stunning reversal when Marina described
to her astonished sister Lola her close and loving association with
her kidnapper Ricky; Lola responded:
"How can you love a kidnapper who ties you up? You think that's
normal? It must be the shock. You can't be that kinky!";
Marina asked to be tied up ("You'd better tie me up. Tie me up"),
so she wouldn't be tempted to escape
- in the ambiguous ending (a subtle variation on the
conclusion of The Graduate (1967)),
the three drove off together; Marina was at the wheel and on the
verge of tears (not sure of their tenuous future), while Ricky and
Lola happily sang along to a cassette tape playing the pop song: "Resistiré,"
or "I Will Resist" - until Lola stopped for a second and
glanced at Marina, and asked: "What is it, silly? We get along
just fine! Come on, honey" - as they drove off into the sunset
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