Nobody makes a melodrama like Almodovar. His films are full of big emotions, grand gestures, passion, violence, madness and death. His characters are ordinary people, but with wild personalities and behavior full of extremes. Nonetheless, they are always portrayed with sympathy. He came to prominence in the '80s for his knowingly kitschy, campy films about LGBT characters, sex workers, criminals, and so many troubled, fascinating women. Themes of gender identity, sexual dysfunction, difficult relationships, and family strife come up again and again. His early work is bursting with daring and inventiveness, never afraid of explicit sex scenes, shocking humor, or the occasional jaunt into the absurd.
So, I feel a little bad that my favorite Almodovar film is one of his most gentle and even-keeled, "Volver," or "The Return." It still features murder, incest, abuse, a bad marriage, some magical realism, and a ghost, but the characters are more grounded in the real world. Famously the plot gestated for a decade before Almodovar made it into a film. "Volver" features three generations of women from La Mancha, Almodovar's birthplace, who have to confront their messy, troubled family history when a series of deaths take place. At the center of the action is Raimunda, played by Penelope Cruz, a fiery woman who murders her husband in order to protect her teenage daughter, and quickly blossoms as a businesswoman in his absence. She's able to reconnect to other members of her estranged family, including her sister and deceased mother, played by Almodovar regulars Lola Duenas and Carmen Maura. Together, they support each other through the ongoing crisis and make their peace with the dead.
"Volver" was my first Almodovar film, and though I certainly appreciate many of the others, I've never found another that offered such a warmly inviting set of characters. These are women with very dramatic lives, living in a close-knit community full of sinister superstitions and terrible secrets. We get the sense that these are not aggressive, confrontational people, and tend to sweep unpleasantness under the rug. However, what drives them to act is their love for each other - mothers protecting daughters, daughters reconciling with their mothers, and everyone doing their part to take care of a senile auntie. Almodovar claims that he took inspiration from the Italian neorealist films, especially the strong female leads played by actresses like Anna Magnani and Sophia Loren. You can definitely see the influence on Raimunda, both in terms of her strong temperament and striking visual presence.
Almodovar's films all take place in these emotionally heightened worlds where the real and the unreal frequently mix. His frames are full of bright colors, bold patterns, and eye-catching designs. Even in a funeral scene where all the characters are wearing black, the floor beneath them is a red and white checkerboard. The color red is very prominent here, often appearing when passions are running high. Raimunda wears the color frequently, helping her to stand out from everyone else, and to remind us of the force of her personality. The characters are all working class, but they always look fabulous, even in their most fraught moments. Many of Almodovar's films are about obsessions with the female form - most explicitly in projects like "The Skin I Live In," "Talk to Her," and "Bad Education." With "Volver," however, it's truly a celebration of women in their totality - their strength, their resilience, and their industriousness.
I prefer Almodovar's earlier, more transgressive films to his later, more serious-minded ones. His treatment of LGBT characters in particular was so refreshing to see, I nearly chose to write about "All About My Mother," which he specifically dedicated to women of all biologies. Like "Volver," it's all about life going on after an unspeakable tragedy, and women coming together to face adversity. However, Raimunda and her family face much darker and thornier issues, and there's so much history between them all to be rediscovered. I found them far more compelling and relatable, which I suppose says more about me than about Almodovar. I also enjoyed the film's treatment of spirituality very much, especially its handling of the dead mother. As ghost stories go, this is certainly one of the most joyous and unique.
What I've Seen - Pedro Almodovar
What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984)
Law of Desire (1987)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down (1990)
All About My Mother (1999)
Talk to Her (2002)
Bad Education (2004)
Volver (2006)
The Skin I Live In (2011)
I'm So Excited! (2013)
Julieta (2016)
Pain and Glory (2019)
Parallel Mothers (2021)
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