Their complete involvement in life and, particularly in this film, death. The emotional courage of these women (there are only four men with speaking parts in the entire movie, as far as I can remember, with not one of them being a major character) is what marks them out. Even though it has the trappings of soap-operatic melodrama, sheer pace prevents any of the characters descending into self-pity.
Whether or not it's the summit of the director's output so far will be a matter of taste, but it's definitely up there with Hable Con Ella and All About My Mother. The film uplifted me in a way that no other film has done in a long, long time.Ī wonderful movie,a masterpiece. The women stick together for each other's sake, they may even cross unspeakable boundaries for sheer compassion. Carmen Maura makes a chilling, beautiful and unique entrance into this sublime Almodovar film based on his most scrumptious screenplay. She is a mass of contradictions and not for a moment she tries to play for sympathy.Her emotion is contagious and makes us comprehend the incomprehensible. A sort of Sophia Loren when Sophia worked with Vittorio De Sica. Well, "Volver" made me swallow my judgment. Just let me say that after the Sahara, Vanilla Sky and Captain Corelli's Mandolin's adventures in Hollywood, I had discarded Penelope Cruz as an actress, completely. I'm not going to tell you what the film is about because what was about for me it may not be for you and one of the many pleasures of the film is to find yourself there. Reviewed by marcosaguado 10 / 10 The Magic Of Compassion â≌laudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil She brings Irene to her apartment, where secrets from the past are disclosed. The next morning, Sole travels alone to the funeral, and when she returns to Madrid, she finds her mother hidden in the trunk of her car. While Raimunda hides his body, Sole calls her to tell that their beloved aunt Paula has died.
When they arrive home, Paula tells her mother that she killed her unemployed father Paco, who was completely drunk and tried to rape her. They return to Madrid, and after a hard day of work, Raimunda meets her daughter completely distraught at the bus stop waiting for her. Then they visit Irene's sister Paula, an old senile aunt that raised Raimunda after the death of her parents that insists to tell them that Irene is alive and living with her later, they go to the house of her neighbor and friend Agustina, who gives a support to Paula.
Raimunda, her daughter Paula and her sister Sole travel from Madrid to the windy and superstitious village of Alcanfor de las Infantas to visit the grave of their mother Irene, who died years ago in a fire with her husband.