love with him. Víctor is later accepted as a volunteer by the orphanage, as he earned a teaching diploma by correspondence during his time in jail, much to Elena's chagrin. David continues to trail Víctor and discovers that he works at Elena's orphanage. He confronts Víctor again, and Víctor insists that Sancho forced his finger on the trigger because Sancho knew David was having an affair with Clara. David tells Elena what Víctor said, admitting his affair with Clara. Elena is disgusted, but still plans to leave the orphanage to evade Víctor. Víctor tells Elena that his original plan of revenge was to become the world's greatest lover, make love to Elena all night long, and then abandon her. Víctor breaks up with Clara, devastating her. While Víctor is working overnight at the orphanage, Elena arrives to retrieve her belongings and offers Víctor a night of passion on condition he never contacts her again. Elena then reveals her infidelity to David. She tells him she will remain his wife because he needs her more than Víctor does. David is nevertheless adamant about exacting revenge on Víctor. Tired of Sancho's constant abuse, Clara decides to leave him. He confronts her and she shoots him. David arrives and helps Sancho clean his wound before showing him photographs he has been taking of Víctor and Clara. Sancho and David drive to Víctor's house, arriving just as Clara has finished writing Víctor a farewell letter. Sancho and Clara hold each other at gunpoint and fire. Clara falls dead, before a wounded Sancho kills himself. In a voiceover, David reads a letter written to Elena from Miami, where he is spending Christmas with friends, apologizing for the way everything turned out. At the orphanage, a pregnant Elena goes into labor and on the way to the hospital, she and Víctor get stuck in heavy traffic. Víctor is reminded of the circumstances of his own birth, and tells his unborn child that the Spanish people no longer live in fear as they did at the time of his birth. Cast Reception Almodóvar's twelfth film opened in Spain on 10 October 1997. It had its US premiere on 12 October 1997 at the New York Film Festival. Produced by El Deseo, Ciby 2000 and France 3 Cinéma, Live Flesh enjoyed mostly positive reviews in Spain, even by critics who had previously dismissed Almodóvar's work criticizing the plot