Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, The Lunatic and the Porn Star

1989's "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down" (aka "Atame!") is our feature today.  Bordering on an X rating, this film features one of the strangest sex scenes in movie history.  Antonio Banderas plays a recently released mental patient, infatuated with a porn star (...not that infatuation with a porn star is insane...).  What follows is anything but normal, as neither character ever graces the realm of normalcy here. When this film hints at approaching tameness, director Pedro Almodovar turns on the eroticism.  Pure fantasy or pure dysfunction?  You choose.  For those easily offended, do not read any further.

The plot:  Ricky (Banderas) is released from an insane asylum by his female doctor.  This doctor was addicted to sex with Ricky and before he departs, she thanks him for the "pleasure and the pain."  Marina (Victoria Abril), a porn star/junkie is finishing an exploitation/horror film and is addicted to smack.  Her elderly, wheelchair bound director is also infatuated with her, but strictly in a lustful mindset.  Ricky's first act in the real world is to follow Marina home, break into her flat, knock her out, and tie her to the bed.  When Marina wakes, she is terrified.  She implores him to get it (rape) over with and leave.  Ricky advises her that he is not there to rape, rather he wants to keep her until she loves him, marries him, and has his children.  She keeps trying to escape, he keeps punishing her.  Unfortunately her addictions keep consuming her. She needs smack to control pain, and Ricky has to go find some. No problem, he'll do anything for her.

Ricky really does care for her, using non-allergic tape to gag her, and soft rope to bind her.  We find out why Ricky developed his obsession with Marina.  No matter how twisted we see this obsession, remember, Marina is a drug addicted, porn star, and she sees the sweetness in it.  Both our protagonists are messed up, and insane Ricky is bent on forcing her to love and cherish him. In contrast, is Marina's current life.  Addicted to drugs because of pain, her perverted director, Maximo (Francisco Rabal), sees her as a sexual goddess, and 100% object.  Ricky offers Marina the rest of their lives and....normalcy?  She is smart and realizes that her current fame is fleeting and based on her willingness to perform nude for the camera.  Perhaps the most controversial part of this film is eventually we stop seeing Marina as a victim, but as a woman with opportunity.  In other words, the independent Marina headed down a path of ruination, the Marina in bondage approaches salvation.  More likely, this is a story of two lost souls, with plenty of fantasy thrown in.    

A hit in Spain, when this film came to the U.S. it was tagged with an X rating (which kills box office numbers).  Abril is excellent as our sad star in peril.  Her performance creates a believable atmosphere as Marina transitions from a horrified hostage to a needy love object. Of course, Ricky sees her as more than an object, and a young Banderas pulls it off too.  Throw in plenty of eroticism and  a musical score by Ennio Morricone, and I just have to...in a guilty pleasure sort of way...recommend "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" which is available in subtitles on Netflix.