Tie-Up on the Party Circuit

The Scene: The U.S. premiere of Pedro Almodovar’s “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!,” a last-minute addition to the American Film Institute Film Festival, Thursday at the Cineplex Odeon Century Plaza. For the uninitiated, the movie, steeped in controversy, was awarded an X rating by the Motion Picture Assn. of America, but Almodovar refused to recut the scenes in question and chose to release the movie unrated. (It opens at the Goldwyn Pavilion Friday.) After gorging on screen sex, drugs and violence on screen, filmgoers partied at the Twenty 20 Club.

The Buzz: No, it wasn’t about the rating or what Almodovar calls “the moment” which generated the original X, but about the film’s content--the story of an actress who is kidnaped, beaten and held captive by a mental patient and then falls madly in love with him.

Quoted: “Oh, it’s a fun-loving, cute, adorable rape fantasy. I think it’s pretty morally questionable,” said actor Barry Miller, of TV’s “Equal Justice.”

Overheard: “This movie actually says worse things about women than ‘Pretty Woman.’ ”

Understated: “I feel misunderstood,” said Almodovar.

Who Was There: “Tie Me Up!” stars Antonio Banderas and Loles Leon, Miramax Films (the movie’s distributor) executives Harvey and Bob Weinstein and Russell Schwartz, your usual assortment of agents, film production and studio executives, plus a few strange-looking performance artists.

Dress Code: For both sexes, dark suits worn with T-shirts or shirts buttoned up to the top button. No one asked, but actress/model Lauren Hutton volunteered that hers was Armani.

Chow: A large X-shaped chocolate cake with marzipan fruit on top, as well as canapes and other desserts. People drank Calistoga water, diet Coke, and Absolut vodka sometimes straight, sometimes with juice.

Exit Line: From an anonymous, youngish male agent--”This is not the kind of movie this town thrives on, but it’s well made. Hollywood is about dollars and this isn’t a movie about dollars, it’s about real visionary movie-making skills.”