If in Bad Education we see the past haunting characters metaphorically, Volver sees Almodóvar returning to comedy with Raimunda (Penélope Cruz) and her sister Sole literally haunted by a very alive ghost. With Volver (meaning ‘return’ in Spanish), Almodóvar returns to his home region of Castille (central Spain), works with long-time collaborator Carmen Maura (of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) after a nearly 20-year rift, and shows how digging into past personal traumas (child abuse) can be explored in a lighter way without sacrificing dramatic tension.
This optimistic film about reconciliation, maternal love and the absent father critiques the persistence of patriarchal structures in Spain and uses repeated intergenerational sexual violence as symptomatic of the persistence of Franco’s ideological regime well into the democratic era.
Director Pedro Almodóvar
Year 2006
Duration
2h 1m
Language Spanish with English subtitles
Cast Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas