Volver, directed by the venerable
Pedro Almodóvar is the latest oeuvre delivered by him and his muses. The
story begins with one of the most memorable opening scenes ever seen on screen—Province-town women are at a small town’s cemetery cleaning madly the graves of their deceased relatives. Clad in smart, primary-colour ensembles and requisite kerchief perched around the dainty faces of the strong leading women. Pénelope Cruz, as Raimunda, plays mother to young teenager Paula (Yohana Cobo)--and sister to Sole, (another Almodóvar favourite Lola Dueñas), and sternly scrubs down the cemented raised coffin of their mother’s grave in the windy season of the eastern village in Spain. Buckets and scrub brushes in tow, they go on with the rest of their day, dutifully visiting their ailing grandmother and the pot-smoking neighbour who looks in on her from time to time.
Volver, Spanish for “to return,” begins to spin a yarn that speaks to women and familial obligations, with a pretty dark lens. When Raimunda comes home to discover her daughter Paula has killed her stepfather in self-defense after an attempted sexual assault, tears are spared only briefly before Raimunda does what any family woman would do at a time like this—clean the shit out of the bloody mess. Before you know it—in 1-2-3 steps—it’s back to crystal clean! Now with stronger action for a tough clean and no permanent blood stains!
We also discover that, after the death of the ailing grandmother, the ghost of Raimunda and Sole’a mother, played by the prolific Carmen Maura, has been released from her duties. She hitches a ride in Sole’s hatchback and settles in to give her daughter the old helping hand in what her mother calls “that illegal hair salon.”
Meanwhile, Raimunda, who struggles financially now that she is the sole breadwinner, illegally takes over the restaurant from her downstairs neighbour. She soon makes a success of it, taking advantage of her talents—cooking delicious meals and making a Spanish province town ambiance with music and charm. One of the most noteworthy scenes is one that fills the screen and the theatre surround sound system with resonating emotion as Raimunda interprets the title track
“Volver,” by Estrella Morante.
While other filmmakers chose to tell their stories through the banalities of everyday existing, Almodóvar tells them with the truly dramatic intricacies of everyday life. For Almodóvar, every day life is full of banal crisis.
Volver is bright, rich, nuanced oral and visual family history come to life.
Recommended dosage for Almodóvar withdrawal:La mala educación (Bad Education), 2004.
A wonderfully nuanced performance by Gael García Bernal as a genderqueer actor and the sexual abuse endured by two childhood friends.
Hable con ella (Talk to her), 2002.
Almodóvar 2002 film, Hable con ella, had the “leading” ladies cast as silent coma victims of almost fatal accidents.
Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother), 1999.
Looking for his father, young writer Esteban’s life story to find his family roots even amidst his mother’s smothering if not genuine love.
