Volver (2006/I)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Pedro Almodóvar

Writer:

Pedro Almodóvar (writer)

Release Date:

26 January 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

After her death, a mother returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life.

Plot Keywords:

Village | Fire | Secret | Grave | Car

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 44 wins & 47 nominations

Cast

Penélope Cruz	...	Raimunda
Carmen Maura	...	Irene
Lola Dueñas	...	Sole
Blanca Portillo	...	Agustina
Yohana Cobo	...	Paula
Chus Lampreave	...	Tía Paula
Antonio de la Torre	...	Paco
Carlos Blanco	...	Emilio
María Isabel Díaz	...	Regina (as Isabel Díaz)
Neus Sanz	...	Inés (as Nieves Sanz Escobar)
Leandro Rivera	...	Auxiliar Producción
Yolanda Ramos	...	Presentadora TV
Carlos García Cambero	...	Carlos
Pepa Aniorte	...	Vecina
Elvira Cuadrupani	...	Vecina

Also Known As:

To Return (USA) (literal English title)

MPAA:

Rated R some sexual content and language.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | Dolby

Certification:

USA:R | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Italy:T | Italy:VM14 | UK:15 | Argentina:16 | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:AL | Hong Kong:IIA | Sweden:11 | Spain:13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Australia:M | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Peru:14 | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Almagro, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Company:

Canal+ España

Trivia:

Penélope Cruz became the first Spanish actress ever to be nominated for Best Lead Actress at the Oscars.

Quotes:

Raimunda: [to self] It smells of... farts, my mother's farts.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Smagsdommerne: (#4.2)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Volver

Wonderful, warm and touching!

Rare are the movies who celebrate everything that life offers. Joy and despair, love and hate, living and dying, strength and weakness, good and bad. While many movies reduce life to either good or bad, painting a very simple picture of human relationships, Almodovars movies display a wide range of emotions, where a person is a Saint and a Whore, where people laugh and cry at the same time, achieving a sense of truth that other movies seldom touch.

An everlasting wind soughs around a small village in La Mancha and the cemetery, where women are cleaning the graves of their dear ones, fighting the winds destruction of their work. This opening scene already sets the tone of the rest of the movie. There are few scenes with men present, the most prominent dies within the first half hour of the movie. In Almodovars universe the women take care of everything, they are hardworking, caring, difficult and solidarity, sharing their intimate moments with each other.

As usual there are plenty of weird, funny and tragic moments in this story (which makes it almost impossible to give a summary of the incidents). The Return from the title is true in many respects, like in all his movies it has multiple meanings. But unlike his early efforts the story here is less over the top, rings truer and is leaving a big emotional impact on you. It's impossible not to be touched by this film.

As always he assembles plenty of highly talented actresses. The biggest surprise here is Penelope Cruz, who finally fulfills the promise she displayed already in "All about my mother". While her performances in American movies were often rather bleak, here she's a force of nature, strong, full of endless energy, a wide range of emotions constantly on her face. This doesn't mean, that any of the other actresses stand back. They are so perfectly cast that it's easy to see why they were all given an acting award at Cannes.