Finding a Foothold

THE MOVIE: “High Heels”

THE SCRIPT: Spanish writer/director Pedro Almodovar’s campy version of “Mommy Dearest,” in which Rebecca (Victoria Abril, pictured at left), a TV newscaster, is the neglected daughter of famous star Becky Del Paramo (Marisa Paredes, pictured at right). As a child, Rebecca murders her nasty stepfather and as an adult confesses to killing her husband, who was once her mother’s boyfriend (Miguel Bose, pictured). Got that?

THE LOOK: Depending on your vantage point, the juicy subplot is the mother-daughter fashion war. But if you’re expecting to see spectacular high heels, take a trip to Neiman Marcus. Almodovar doesn’t use full body shots, so all the viewer gets is an occasional fleeting glance of feet.

The shakedown is between Rebecca’s lust for Chanel and her mother’s passion for Armani. When both characters dress exclusively in their $4,000 designer suits, you can decide who comes out the winner. The simple, slouchy Armani look on the mature Parades seems uninspired, or at the least, un-cinematic. Great costume designers like Edith Head and Adrian understood that a shoulder pad was fundamental.

Finally, in Parades’ big scene performing on stage, there was something overwhelmingly droopy about her column of olive crepe cum train, and when we finally get a glimpse of her high-heeled shoes, well, they don’t match; they are a garish red satin!

Abril, playing the adult Rebecca, is dressed in head-(sunglasses, earrings)-to-toe (you get a couple peeks of two-tone beige and black pumps) Chanel. She may be a walking ad for last spring’s Chanel collection, but the suits are so fresh with sharp colors and mid-thigh hems, does it matter?

THE PAYOFF: A fashion show without a ticket to Paris or Milan.