"Law of Desire," the last film Pedro Almodovar made before his international hit "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown", stands at a pivotal point in the Spanish director's repetoire. It combines the technical sheen of his later films with the kinky irreverence of his earlier work.

The convoluted plot centers on Pablo (Eusebio Poncela), a filmmaker whose fashionable, charmingly tasteless movies resemble Almodovar's. Pablo lives with his brother-cum-sister Tina (Carmen Maura) a religious transsexual actress. Pablo and Tina both want boyfriends.

Their already weird lives are disrupted further when a deranged movie buff named Antonio (Antonio Banderas) decides he'd like a shot at domestic bliss with Pablo. Antonio worms his way into the hearts and beds of both siblings, fixes all their appliances and kills one of their friends. Behind this story rages a giddy post-Franco Madrid filled with Almodovar fixtures: quaaludes, pederast priests, disco-dancing children and haunting boleros.

Almodovar's singular talent lies in his ability to respect and ridicule his characters as they make their way through his melodramatic, messy story. "Law of Desire" sometimes feels like a B-movie, sometimes like a parody of a B-movie and occasionally like fine drama. It's a hodge-podge that winds up surprisingly witty and even moving. "Law of Desire" may also be Almodovar's smartest, most challenging film. He displays here an acute consciousness of the way deviance and normalcy tend to get mixed up; in his merciless satire, the Church and the family unit appear twisted and sick, while heroine addicts and hookers seem like ordinary folk.

Excellent acting renders these unusual characters believable. Maura, who starred in "Women on the Verge," plays the transsexual Tina with relish. Maura is an actress who, as Almodovar has written, "enlarges in front of the camera." With her wide-eyed insouciance, she looks like the girl-(or former boy)-next-door, whether she's singing a hymn at the altar, snorting a line of coke or vaulting over a bar counter. Banderas (of "Mambo Kings" and "Truth or Dare") is hilarious as the appealingly deranged fan, and Poncelas convincingly portrays the oddly down-to-earth avant-garde director.

"Law of Desire" also shows off the vibrant, stylish production Almodovar is justly famous for. The movie plays slyly with dubbing and visual perspective in a way that never comes off as precious; Almodovar is careful not to let his tricks upstage the story he tells. Half romance, half horror flick, "Law of Desire" displays a ferocious energy sadly lacking from Almodovar's more recent efforts; it showcases the full talents of a director who can make audiences squirm.