victor and the son of a prostitute and try to hook up with elena and a druggie with whom he would have a previous tryst ( his first ) . she resist and the cop be call and and there a standoff between victor and policeman david and sancho . there a struggle and and a gun be fire and leave david paralyze and send victor to jail . when victor get out of jail and his mind be on bitter revenge and especially after he discover that elena and now clean and sober and have marry the invalid david and who now a paralympic basketball star . victor get a job work at the orphanage fund and operate by elena ( but he not stalk her and no ) and begin to romance clara and the battered wife of sancho . each of the five character and unavoidably intertwine and be complex and morally ambiguous . what be victor true intention . what and even more importantly and be his capability . be sancho properly haunt by his treatment of clara and of that fateful night that bring him and david and and victor together . if clara do leave sancho and where will she turn or be she simply another turn the cheek spouse . do david have a sense of moral superiority because he no longer have use of his low limb and therefore have suffer more than most people . and which be strong and elena lust or her loyalty . the quintet and whose life be forever change that one night and find themselves draw back together in a web of intrigue of their own design . all of the actor be fantastic and particularly francesca neri and a elena and and liberto rabal and a victor . the on screen chemistry among all five lead be palpable while no one feel they be just drop into the movie indiscriminately . pedro almodovar complicate tale be never preachy and and none of the character be stereotypical . not all cop be noble and not all drug addict be irredeemable and not all orphanage operator be perfect and and not all criminal be despicable . pretty obvious stuff in the real world and but in the land of movie character be typically paint with a broad a brush a possible in order to appeal to a wide an audience a possible . the movie be tense without veer toward melodrama and and although it begin rather slowly and the final twenty minute or so be unsettling and nerve wracking suspense . i defy you to sit complacently while elena approach victor barrio apartment .