![volver pedro almodovar summary volver pedro almodovar summary](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51ksocon-iL._SY445_.jpg)
Obviously Raimunda cannot, for which she receives much flak. Simultaneously, auntie dies, and Sole calls Raimunda to return with her to La Mancha for the funeral. Raimunda immediately takes charge – there is a powerful scene of her cleaning the kitchen while a still-shell-shocked Paula watches – and stores Paco in the freezer of a next-door neighbor’s shut down restaurant that she is watching over. (It is easy to understand Paco’s temptation, especially after later revelations, and male viewers will be pleased to know that tempting teenager Paula is really played by a twenty-one year old.) Paco eventually looks a little too fondly at Paula, makes a play, and receives a knife in his chest for his troubles, which Raimunda returns home to discover. The women then return to Madrid, where Raimunda is working multiple jobs to get by, while her husband Paco (Antonio de la Torre) sits around, drinks beer, and watches a bit of footie. There are rumors of a ghost watching over her. While auntie is clearly no longer all together there, somehow she manages to feed and take care of herself and bake goodies for her nieces. Volver (“to return”) opens with Raimunda ( Penélope Cruz), her sister Sole (Lola Dueñas), and her teenage daughter Paula (Yohana Coba) having returned to Raimunda’s home town of La Mancha (Almodóvar’s birthplace) to clean the graves of Raimunda’s parents – apparently a regular ritual in this town – and to visit their somewhat senile aunt.
Volver pedro almodovar summary movie#
That being said, while it is definitely a movie worth seeing, in comparison to Almodóvar’s most recent films like La mala educación (Bad Education), Hable con ella (Talk to Her), and Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother), Volver lags behind the curve. I don't want him any other way.Because Pedro Almodóvar made Volver, the film is, almost by definition, deeper, more intelligent, more nuanced and more beautifully filmed than at least 95 percent of the movies coming out of Hollywood - if not more.
![volver pedro almodovar summary volver pedro almodovar summary](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTg4MjE0MzI0OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMDAxODk2._V1_.jpg)
After misfiring with the turgid "Bad Education," "Volver" is Almodovar with his eyes wide open again. This isn't Almodovar going soft, but embracing the longing for angels and the religion of comfort. While "Volver" opens with a blade, it ends with forgiveness and hope for new beginnings. It's an interesting trade-off a creative choice that takes time to fully understand and appreciate. "Volver" calms down after initial scenes of baroque horror and disturbing sexuality it becomes enriching rather than thrilling, which wounds the pace of the film, but makes up for this absence of movement with character interaction that has depth and thought. Raimunda's plot thread has all the makings of a deft, suspenseful thriller, which gets the senses firing early, but that jolt is never seen to conclusion. Pushing against the grain, "Volver" is a strange film that establishes itself as plot-centric in the first 45 minutes, and then settles down into a slack character study.
![volver pedro almodovar summary volver pedro almodovar summary](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/AfsAAOSwIGZdcSye/s-l400.jpg)
"Volver" is strikingly beautiful in visual and performance terms, but the story doesn't always sway to the same beat. Cruz matches Almodovar's visual sumptuousness and clipped tonal changes note for note. It's not that Cruz necessarily outacts her co-stars, but her role is the most striking in terms of primal heat and relatable frustration. Channeling the breathtaking sexual stance of her acting elders Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren, Cruz puts up a front of curves and middle-class glamour, but undercuts it with a twitchy read of a character founded in guilt, secrets, and distrust. Embodying the varying degrees of Spanish femininity, the picture is awash with finely-honed acting, lead by the charging, raw emotion of Penelope Cruz. It has become nearly an annual tradition to herald an Almodovar film for its performances, and "Volver" is no exception. It's a film about the hope of closure at the very end of a difficult journey. "Volver" moves in mysterious ways, but it finds its center of gravity in the interworkings of family and the secrets that can create great divides. It's one of Almodovar's most conventional films to date, continuing on his path towards embracing his graying spirit, and gently forwarding his continuing interest in classically mounted tales of familial anxiety. "Volver" is a melodrama fascinated with the justice of death and the mysteries of life after this mortal coil. In Pedro Almodovar's 16th feature film, "Volver" is one of his most self-assured works, nestled into a style and filmmaking breadth that has officially become synonymous with the Almodovar brand.