Tangled loyalties, desire and revenge all came together with compelling aplomb when Almodóvar brilliantly refashioned Ruth Rendell’s novel to deliver this raw and erotically charged drama.

Victor Plaza (Liberto Rabal) is a child of Franco's Spain, born on a bus that was taking his mother, a prostitute (in a cameo by a young Penelope Cruz), to the hospital. 20 years on, Victor goes to meet Elena (Francesca Neri) – a drug addicted diplomat's daughter - after losing his virginity to her two days earlier in a nightclub toilet. But when she barely remembers anything about the encounter, nerves, a gun and two policeman play their part in a violent encounter that will change all of their lives forever. When one of the policeman, David (Javier Bardem), is hit by a stray bullet that leaves him paralysed and wheelchair-bound for life, Victor is blamed and sent to prison where he helplessly watches on as David becomes a paralympics star and taking Elena as his wife, leaving Victor vowing revenge upon his release.

With beauty, colour and erotic symbolism to spare as well as expert plotting and brilliantly nuanced characterisation, with Live Flesh Almodóvar delivered a masterclass in emotional precision and a profoundly affecting look into the realities of love and longing.

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