Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

Original title: Átame!

1989
NC-17
1h 41m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

33K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,800

Play trailer2:25

1 Video

99 Photos

Dark Comedy Comedy Crime Drama Romance

An unbalanced but alluring former mental patient takes a porn star prisoner in the hopes of convincing her to marry him.An unbalanced but alluring former mental patient takes a porn star prisoner in the hopes of convincing her to marry him.An unbalanced but alluring former mental patient takes a porn star prisoner in the hopes of convincing her to marry him.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

33K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,800

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 8 wins & 19 nominations

Lola
(as Loles Leon)

Julieta Serrano

Alma

María Barranco

Berta
(as Maria Barranco)

Rossy de Palma

Traficante de drogas en Vespa

Francisco Rabal

Máximo Espejo

Lola Cardona

Directora Psiquiátrico

Montse García Romeu

Montse
(as Montse G. Romeu)

Emiliano Redondo

Decorador

Oswaldo Delgado

Fantasma

Concha Rabal

Farmacéutica

Alberto Fernández

Productor
(as Alberto Fernandez)

José María Tasso

Anciano Psiquiátrico
(as Jose Maria Tasso)

Angelina Llongueras

Montadora

Manuel Bandera

Bailarín Tango

Virginia Díez

Bailarín Tango
(as Virginia Diez)

Juana Cordero

Dependiente Bombonería

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
One of the films (along with Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)) that was instrumental in bringing about the introduction of the NC-17 rating in the U.S., as the film's distributor, Miramax, took the MPAA to court over the X certification it had initially been designated. According to Pedro Almodóvar, the MPAA did not believe an R rating was appropriate, even after cuts, because they were afraid that the film would inspire young men to kidnap young women out of lust. Miramax argued that an X rating implicated pornography and would diminish the film's audience, but they lost the lawsuit and it was released unrated. In September 1990, the MPAA replaced the X rating with the then-newly created NC-17 rating in response to numerous appeals by other filmmakers who had released their films under similar circumstances in the past. Eventually, the film was re-rated NC-17 for its first two (of three) U.S. home video releases (it was re-released unrated the third time; see below), the reason being the explicit scene of a naked Marina taking a bath in her apartment and masturbating in the bathtub under the water with an activated swimming scuba diver wind-up toy.

Goofs
When Ricky accepts the offer to take Marina out to search for painkillers for her toothache, she puts on a tiny white dress that only goes down to the tops of her thighs and only just barely conceals her crotch and buttocks in order to cover her completely naked body underneath it. When they both return to Marina's apartment, she takes off the dress, but now she is naked except for a pair of white panties that were not there before.

Quotes
Ricky: I'm 23 years old, I have 50,000 pesetas, and I'm alone in the world. I'll try to be a good husband to you and a good father to your children.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Short Time/Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!/Wild Orchid/Without You I'm Nothing/Santa Sangre (1990)

Soundtracks
Canción del alma
Written by Rafael Hernández
Performed by Loles León

User reviews83

Review

Featured review

8/10

Gloriously Beautiful

An unbalanced but alluring former mental patient (Antonio Banderas) takes a porn star (Victoria Abril) prisoner in the hopes of convincing her to marry him.

How can anyone deny the beautiful, almost dreamlike use of color in this film? Trying to find anything comparable is a challenge. The musicals of Jacques Demy? No, not even those.

"Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" comes from a strong pedigree, as it follows in the myth of Beauty and the Beast and the notion that the savagery of the Beast is, in the presence of Beauty, tamed by gentler feelings. This has been a recurrent theme in films like "King Kong", "Frankenstein" and "Tarzan the Ape Man". Some have even drawn parallels to "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" in that kidnapping can lead to romance.

The soundtrack was composed by Ennio Morricone in the style of a thriller and is reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann's score for Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". This music changes the whole tone. Some consider the film a "dark romantic comedy" and others even say there is a hint of horror in there. Much of the mood relies on the music -- with a lighter tone, this could just be an "offbeat" romantic comedy and not a "dark" one -- there is very little about the film that is dark besides the music.