Pedro Almodovar presents another vivid slice of life in Spain in this marvelous film about women, friendship and loss, this one set mostly in Barcelona. After the death of her son, Manuela (Cecilia Roth) moves from Madrid to her old house in Barcelona, where she lives with a transsexual prostitute, works as an assistant for an actress playing Blanche DuBois in a production of "A Streetcar Named Desire," and befriends a yong nun (Penelope Cruz) who is pregnant. Almodovar dedicated his film to the actresses of the world, a fitting homage for a movie which so touchingly captures the world of women. In Spanish with subtitles.  (SPN231, $29.95)

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