The film follows the tangled love story of a writer and his muse, played by Penélope Cruz, in what Mr. Almodóvar called “a love declaration to the cinema.” In signature Almodóvar style, the complex plot channels decades of cinematic history, including his own Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

If the image of Mr. Almodóvar and Ms. Cruz walking down the red carpet together takes you straight back to 2006—and 1999, and 1997—you’re not alone. Broken Embraces is the fourth of five films on which the two Spaniards have collaborated.

But, Ms. Cruz told the Transom of her career-long professional relationship with the director, “I haven’t lost the fear or the butterflies in my stomach when I’m working with him.”

According to Ms. Cruz, who first met Mr. Almodóvar when she was only 17, “He’s really the reason I decided to become an actress when I was a teenager. It’s because I was obsessed with his movies, and I still am.”

Asked about his next move, Mr. Almodóvar said: “I can’t say anything very concrete,” he said. And, in the next breath: “I’m facing the possibility to make my first movie in English next year if everything goes well.”

Also there was 84-year-old Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall. Asked how she felt about recent news that she’ll be receiving an honorary Academy Award in November (along with cinematographer Gordon Willis and director Roger Corman), Ms. Bacall allowed only that she thought it was “shocking.”