Saturday, May 12, 2007

The Virtuous And The Vicious


Volver (Return) (2006)
IMDB
Directed by: Pedro Almodovar
My Rate: 5/5

Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) is a maid, she lives in Madrid with her husband, Paco and daughter, Paula. Her parents are both dead in a fire accident in the suburbs of Madrid, where they used to live. She has an old and ill aunt left there and comes over her from time to time.

Paco is the only male character in the movie! All other main characters are females! In the first glance it seems very feministic. The brave woman's life who tries to come over really big problems. Women are the ones who "govern" everything by their natural senses: love, hate, envy, motherhood and smelling! (There's a reference to that in the movie) in contrast with the men are the ones who only look for alcohol and sex no matter with who. But looking more deeply and optimistically, it seems like a tribute to motherhood and the mother's natural tendency to raise and protect.

There are deeply hidden family secrets which are concealed from one generation to another, but a chain of events makes them unrevealed and that's the motive of the film. So that's very hard to have a review of it withough letting the cat out of the bag, but I won't do that. Watch yourself and enjoy it because in addition to the interesting story, it has great shots, great angles, bold and stirring colours and everything to make it a French film, although it's Spanish.

3 comments:

Gog said...

Hello,
I'll try to find the movie in the next two weeks, and then I'll tell you my opinion about it. Have you seen this movie in spanish?

The Monkey In The Corner said...

Yes, with English subtitles.

Anonymous said...

This is Almodovar's most sophisticated film to date: a joyous, touching, funny and thrilling account of the up-and-downs of family life,i love this film ,Part thriller, part comedy and part drama, it also offers Penelope Cruz the chance to show herself as a good actress.too nice and too simple ,i ike it too much too.