In “Volver,” Pedro Almodóvar creates an impossibly beautiful film. He fuses themes of child abuse, deep superstition and female resilience, depicting something simultaneously powerful and surprisingly comedic.
The opening scene depicts superstitious widows scrubbing graves of passed loved-ones alongside their own empty graves for good luck. Raimunda (Penélope Cruz) cleans her parents’ tombstone as the wind blusters through her dark hair. The story revolves around three generations of women in a family from a spirit-ridden town in rural Spain.
When Raimunda’s sister Sole sees their dead mother very much alive at the funeral of her aunt, the plot begins to twist and turn until the final scene. It’s not the complex sequence of events that resonates, but the vivid color of each character. Throughout the movie, Cruz’s character is donned in vibrant apparel that mirrors her vivacious spirit and accentuates Almodóvar’s depiction of traditional Spain in contemporary society.
The wild graffiti of Madrid is the backdrop for scenes with the same dialogue and blocking dynamics of classic Spanish cinema. Suddenly a cell phone will ring or a talk show will appear on Sole’s television, and the fantastic elements of the plot will connect with modern circumstance, creating an uncanny setting for a usually clichéd genre: the ghost story.
Penélope Cruz’s performance proves stunning and mature. She wears her strife and will to survive on her well-defined, feminine face. Aerial shots create an artistic element in the cinematography otherwise absent from the straightforward blocking of the script.
Almodóvar creates funny, relationship-driven moments in the midst of sadness.
Though the plot is unrealistic in some ways, the characters are such real, complex women, any fantasy element of the movie appears even stranger. The movie is not an epic but an effective piece of art.
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Mixed themes succeed in new film “Volver”
Daily Emerald
January 31, 2007
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