The opening credits are a mini-masterpiece of graphic design. They are black and white and red all over, an incredibly cool parade of images with a soundtrack worthy of the best Hitchcock films Almodovar loves kitsch, and in the opening credits he gets most of that affection out of his system. But not entirely. Only in an Almodovar picture would the audience be treated to a day in the country in a flashback sequence set in the 60s that includes a performance of “Moon River” with new lyrics sung by a young boy with an angelic voice.

The song is performed in Spanish, of course. Almodovar may try different genres and styles, but I cannot imagine him making a movie outside of his beloved Spain. As in so many of his films, the Spain of Bad Education is very modern and very old-fashioned at the same time. Of all non-American directors, Almodovar makes movies that barely feel foreign. They look both foreign and familiar, but the characters transact in recognizable actions and emotions.

That is true in Bad Education, even when the plot and characters spin out a tale that is far from cheery. At many levels of the plot, Bad Education bears resemblance to the French film Swimming Pool. It doesn’t end with a such a big, quick twist, but the story, sketeched out by a writer, told as a story, turns back on itself, and characters are not always who they claim to be.

Bad Education begins with a visit. A young man, calling himself Angel, visits Enrique, a successful movie director. The two haven’t seen each other since they were separated as school boys. Angel, who was known in school as Ignacio, has written a short story called “The Visit.”

Enrique’s production designer tries to give Angel the brush-off, seeing him as just another adoring fan and a threat. He seems not to see what we see, that Angel makes Enrique nervous. When he hears that the short story recounts events from their days at a Catholic boarding school for boys, Enrique is more than intrigued. Angel assures him that the story is mostly fiction, set in part in their old school. It isn’t true, he tells Enrique, but we don’t quite believe him.

Angel is an aspiring actor - the stills of him performing in regional theater are hilarious - and he hopes Enrique will give him work or be interested enough in the story to turn it into a movie. We know Enrique is looking for movie ideas. Before Angel’s visit, he has been reading the tabloids, cutting out the freaky stories that might work on screen.

“The Visit” is told in a long flashback. The cinemascope frame narrows slightly and the movie takes on a more golden hue. Ignacio, as a young boy, has enormous ears that stick out, big limpid brown eyes and a heavenly singing voice. He is a favorite of the priest who is the principal of the school, which causes him more harm than good.

The priest does not approve of the close friendship Ignacio shares with one boy. In an effort to keep his friend from being expelled, Ignacio offers himself to the priest. The priest does not honor his end of the bargain, and Ignacio’s trust is betrayed again.

As an adult, in the flashback, Ignacio has become an entertainer who lives as a woman. Gael Garcia Bernal (Amores perros and The Motorcycle Diaries) plays Angel in the main story and also plays Zahara, the grown up Ignacio in the flashback. He is a pretty man who makes a fairly attractive, if not completely believable woman. The numbers performed in drag in Bad Education are beautifully staged and performed.

Enrique is fascinated by “The Visit” and does make it into a movie. He is also beguiled by Angel and casts him in the role Angel longs to play, Zahara. But there is one more visit to come. On the last day of filming a man arrives on the set, claiming to be the villain of Enrique’s film. He tells Enrique the true ending of the story Angel brought to Enrique.

None of this is as confusing as it sounds, but it does keep you guessing about who and what is really going on, in a fun way. What is less fun and plenty heartbreaking is that the film shows the lifelong scars child abuse inflicts.

Bad Education is rated NC-17 for sexuality. We are not subjected to any images of boys being abused. The sexuality in Bad Education is between adults.

The sexuality is not erotic, in my opinion. I have no reflex that says the particular variations of sex depicted in Bad Education will send the participants to hell, and I’m not a prude. It’s just that this screen sex looks neurotic, desperate and not pleasurable.

I think part of this is intentional. These are not characters who have the lives they would have chosen. Abused as youths, all the characters in Bad Education are trying to recapture the innocence stolen from them by adults whom they should have been able to trust. That the abuse they experienced has made many aspects of their lives, including their sexuality, joyless is logical.

I understand that Almodovar wants to be true to his vision, and for him that means including sexuality that guarantees his picture will be rated NC-17 and seen by a substantially smaller audience than an R-rated film. I admire his willingness to go through the hassles and loss of audience the NC-17 rating imposes. But I’m not at all convinced that, in this instance, the sexuality adds anything to the picture.

Sex is so often very unsexy on screen. A lot of movies, hoping to be sexy and romantic, lose momentum when they move into the bedroom. I’m a true believer that, on film, the suggestion of something can be more powerful than the actual depiction. There is no more powerful scene in Bad Education than the sadness we feel when Ignacio’s innocence is taken from him - far off camera.

Bad Education is a movie that should be seen and celebrated for its honesty and genuine sympathy for the victims of abuse, its dazzling visual landscape and clever plotting. The rating, unfortunately, does more to keep people away rather than draw them in.