YOU MEN ARE ALL THE SAME
(TODOS LOS HOMBRES SOIS IGUALES)
A film review by Leo Bueno
Copyright 1995 Leo Bueno
Spanish cinema has fallen in a groove, a nice groove; YOU MEN ARE ALL THE SAME (a.k.a., TODOS LOS HOMBRES SOIS IGUALES) is a fine example of it. The general framework is that of refreshingly witty dialogue (in the context of slightly improbable situations) which envelops pathetic aspects of the characters' lives. One suspects that the production companies which assemble these films are a little short on cash, however, they are long on skill and talent.
YOU MEN follows along the path carved by BELLE EPOQUE, AY CARMELA!, WHY DO THEY CALL IT LOVE WHEN THEY MEAN SEX (same director as YOU MEN), JAMON JAMON, and probably a few others which I did not get around to seeing (note in this list the absence of Almodovar's films, which I generally find much ballyhooed, greatly overrated, and gratuitously shocking). Spanish filmmaking of late is in part a response to the change in the country's political climate.
Thank God Francisco Franco died, so Spanish cinema could shake the old and tired little Joselito and Sara Montiel didactic musicals and produce movies which show life as it probably is. Yes, Generalisimo, wherever you happen to be, men and women do break one of the Commandments on a regular basis with each other.
One not necessarily disquieting aspect of the style (at least from this reviewer's politically incorrect male perspective) seems to be the casting of at least two great looking women, one of whom at some point in the film bears her boobs. Franco must be twirling in his royal grave. Unfortunately, sometimes Spanish directors throw in scenes whose shock value far outweigh their aesthetic merit. In YOU MEN, there is a shot of one of the protagonists missing his urinary porcelain mark; it crossed the artistic necessity line; it brought memories of Almodovar's unwarranted depiction of a woman in a similar situation, albeit with much better aim.
YOU MEN is the story of three recently divorced thirty something men--a pilot, a sports broadcaster, and an architect--who share an apartment. Less than adequate domestic skills compel them to hire a non-resident housekeeper. She is a shapely and beautiful young woman, driven by single motherhood into this less than ideal and unbecoming profession. The movie chronicles the relationships among the men, their ex-wives, their children, and the housekeeper.
One may simplistically characterize this movie as a twist on THREE MEN AND A BABY; it would be unfair; it is not so. This film is not concerned with the mechanics of the men's new domestic lives; it deals with their emotions during a difficult part of their existence. This movie is not about juggling roommates, household utensils, and living spaces; it is about managing the aftermath of divorce, and its pain. The only drawback to the movie is that some of the comedy is a little too physical; not quite Jerry Lewis material, but a bit too harsh for its other fine elements.
The relationship between the men and their ex-wives encompasses the post-dissolution of marriage spectrum. One can't stay away from the ex-wife (and she obliges sexually); one grins, bears and tolerates her antics; one even attempts physical violence against the ex-wife's business establishment.
Although the title implies a feminine perspective, YOU MEN's director is a man. He (sometimes through trite sketches and themes: wife running away with lawyer; men at party huddling to watch sports videos; man gawking at bent-over woman) portrays men as lusting romantic bumbling idiots; however, he subtly paints women as cunning calculating mean-spirited predators, on balance, much less favorably.
The scene you will remember from this film will not make you laugh. You will remember the pilot's son's incontinence, brought on by the parents' ugly bickering. There is pain and suffering in divorce; there is no honest cinematic way to soften the harshness of its effect.
Leo's Rating: 7 (see scale below).
BOMB BAD||GOOD GREAT
1 2 3 4 5 ||6 7 8 9 10
*
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews