Fictional Film Reference - tie me up, tie me down

The film follows Ricky (Banderas), a young man recently released from a mental institution, who has been obsessed with Marina (Abril), an actress, former porn star, and recovering heroin addict, since the pair shared a one-night stand one year before the drama of the film. Ricky was orphaned at the age of three, and afterward subjected to the state system of foster-childhood and psychiatric care. He is a wily and ambiguous character with an imbalanced personality. He kidnaps Marina, and admits that his plan is to make her fall in love with him, live with him, and produce his children. Eventually, Marina does fall into some kind of love with him, however still considers herself his prisoner, and tells him to keep her tied up so that she won't try to escape. Subsequently, she reluctantly escapes with the assistance of her sister Lola (Loles León), but the lovers are eventually reunited.

Perhaps the major focus of the film explores how sex affects personal relationships. Sex is shown to be a prime determinant of emotions and actions. It directs, in no small part, the entirety of the dramatic content of the film. It is the seed of obsession. The obsession over sex drives Ricky to kidnap. It drives the paralyzed, porn-watching, wheel-chair-bound director (Francisco Rabal), into a neurotic pursuance of Marina. It initiates a softening of Marina's attitude towards her captor.

The film also deals with victimization and violence. Victim and predator blur, and violence and love are mixed together curiously. Almódovar deals with all serious topics in a very even-handed manner. In this film, it is clear that violence and victimization produce predatory and so-called "crazy" behavior (i.e. behavior worthy of psychiatric detention). Marina is a victim as much as Ricky - exploited for her beauty as a porn star, she becomes abuser and addict of smack. She is so used to being treated as a sexual object that she ultimately falls for the battered and imbalanced Ricky. At the end of the film she reminds one of the two young, run-away lovers of The Graduate. She seems entirely unsure and confused.