Volver (2006) - film review

Raimunda and Sole are two sisters who live in a poor, working class district of Madrid.  Life is hard for both of them, but they get by, although both still mourn the loss of their parents, who died recently in tragic circumstances.  Originally, they came from La Mancha, a windswept region of Spain which is plagued by fires, superstition and insanity.  When their elderly aunt Paula dies suddenly, Sole takes charge of the funeral arrangements and is surprised when her sister tells her she is too busy to attend the funeral.  What Sole does not know is that Raimunda has just found out that her oversexed husband, Paco, has been stabbed to death by her teenage daughter during an attempted rape.   Whilst Raimunda is deciding how to dispose of the dead body, her sister begins to renew her acquaintance with her mother, Irene, who has chosen a strange time to come back from the grave....

The complex interplay between life and death seems to be a defining theme in the cinema of Pedro Almodóvar, and never more so than in his latest film, Volver.  This is a masterfully composed work in which the Spanish filmaker explores, with wit, insight and a highly developed sense of irony, the power that the dead exert over the living.   Volver means "return" and the two main protagonists in this drama have a buried secret which is about to come back to haunt them with a vengeance, reminding us that the past is not something we can ever be free of.

Volver offers the familiar Almodóvar mix of black comedy and melodrama, but here the tone is noticeably darker, far more subdued, making this one of the director’s most introspective and naturalistic films to date.  One of the strengths of Almodóvar’s films is the extraordinary skill with which they are photographed and composed.  Volver is no exception, with an inspired use of colour and lighting which cleverly evokes a psychological landscape that is fraught with inner conflict, desperation and pent-up emotions.  The subtle stylisation lends a dreamlike quality which gives the film some disturbing undertones, effectively blurring the edges between reality and imagination.

Volver brings together Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura and Chus Lampreave, three talented actresses whom Almódovar fans will recognise from many of his previous films.  The performances from the female ensemble cast are universally faultless and were rewarded with the Best Actress Award at Cannes in 2006.   These bring an authenticity and poignancy to a drama which might, with its obvious plot contrivances and excursions into fantasy, have gone horribly awry.  Once again, Almódovar demonstrates a natural affinity with women, something that is apparent in many of his previous films, notably Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) and All About My Mother (1999).  When it comes to portraying the neuroses, anxieties, passions and follies of women, no one does it better than Pedro Almodóvar.

© James Travers 2009

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