Even Pedro Almodóvar’s first feature, which caused quite a stir in the film world, bears all the hallmarks of his unique talent. It betrays a fondness for stories built upon situations in which seemingly disparate elements combine with ferocious yet refined indelicacy: a plot worthy of a telenovela, absurd exaggeration, an accumulation of the bizarre and the provocative, with deeper emotionality and a weighty subtext. The director spurns restraint at the stylistic level as well, unfolding his story at breakneck speed and shocking the viewer with unexpected edits, camera angles, and fluid lensing techniques, offbeat casting, and novel work with actors. In the present case, Pepa’s lover leaves her alone and desperate, and for two days she doggedly seeks him out in order to tell him she’s pregnant. That might seem a pretty slim plot for a feature, but that doesn’t faze Almodóvar. As is his wont, he simply inserts other characters into the mix, introducing surprisingly confused and wryly humorous situations involving deceived women and selfish men, while the main thrust is the absurdity of our notion of what constitutes an interpersonal relationship.