Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2111 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-02-12
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 116 minutes

Amazon.com
Spanish for "Coming Back," Volver is a return to the all-female format of All About My Mother. Unlike Pedro Almodóvar's previous two pictures, the story revolves around a group of women in Madrid and his native La Mancha. (The cast received a collective best actress award at Cannes.) Raimunda (a zaftig Penélope Cruz) is the engine powering this heartfelt, yet humorous vehicle. When husband Paco (Antonio de la Torre) is murdered, Raimunda makes like Mildred Pierce to deflect attention away from daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo). After telling everyone the lout has left, she struggles to conceal his body. The other women in her life all have secrets of their own. Her sister, Sole (Lola Dueñas), for instance, has taken in their mother, Irene (a sprightly Carmen Maura). Since Irene perished in a fire, is this person a ghost or simply a woman who looks like her? Then there's their childhood friend, Agustina (Blanca Portillo), who is desperate to find out why her mother disappeared after the blaze. Was she responsible? Almodóvar deftly blends the ghost story with the murder mystery in his tribute to the Italian neo-realist films of the 1950s. The resilient Raimunda is a throwback to the earthy heroines of Sophia Loren and Anna Magnani. The latter appears in Luchino Visconti's Bellissima, which shows up on Sole's television one night (thus confirming the link). If Almodóvar’s 16th feature lacks the emotional punch of the more audacious Talk to Her, it's less heavy-handed than Bad Education and Cruz is a revelation. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Synopsis
Following the passing away of their mother in a fire, Raimunda (Penelope Cruz, VANILLA SKY) and Sole (Lola Duenas, TALK TO HER), leave their home town of La Mancha to live in Madrid. Raimunda lives with her daughter and unsupportive husband, taking on menial jobs, while Sole works in secret as a hairdresser. The only member of their family to remain in La Mancha is their Aunt Paula, who speaks of their deceased mum as if she were alive. The sisters also visit their friend Augustina, who remains devastated by the death of the mother. When Paula dies, the situation changes and the sisters find themselves communicating with their apparently deceased mother. Pedro Almodovar directs this mysterious and suspenseful film with panache and Penelope Cruz--with the enhancement of a prosthetic backside--shines in a sparkling performance.

Customer Reviews

Volver collapses under weight of its own ideas
As a Spain-ophile I love the idea of Pedro Almodovar and the Movida but when I watch the movies they never live up to the hype. Volver bites off a lot more than it can chew. The main theme is something like how women are forced into colluding with family secrets and how this compromises their relationships with each other. However, it throws in child abuse, reality TV, hairdressing and a lot more besides. The problem is that none of these are dramatised in terms of character development, the screenplay is largely incoherent, the themes don't hold together and the story with its improbable plot twists ends up being a melodrama. Stylistically, the film can't seem to settle down either, at times seeming almost like a Hitchcock homage including soundtrack, and at other times an Ortonesque comedy of manners. Apparently it is an homage to Italian neo-realism for what it's worth.

Is Amomodovar playing games with our expectations or is it just a bit of a mess? Is it saying something about the New Spain's difficult relationship with its past? At one point we are suddenly told that the main character, played by Penelope Cruz, is a frustrated singer and she breaks into song (miming to the superb Estrella Morente). Yet her thwarted career as a top flamenco artiste is never mentioned again.

There are great touches like the claustrophic funeral scene, the motif of the hilariously over the top kissing among the women and the slapstick of the women moving the freezer around. And the cast are great. But the pace drags in the last third and the movie never reaches a satisfactory climax. None of these things would have seemed important in the 1980s when the director was making films up as he went along on a shoe string and somehow capturing the spirit of the time. But in a big budget production we're entitled to expect him to have a bit more more control over his material.

Entertaining family saga - go on it's worth the effort
There is no doubtng the beauty of Penelope Cruz, but after a few dodgy English language films (Sahara, Vanilla Sky etc) her acting ability has seriously been called into queston. Volver totaly debunks these doubts, she provides charm, vulnerability, feminine strength and a huge amount of sex appeal to a character that can at times be totally unsympathetic. The supporting cast is just as impressive, typical of Almodovar which is no bad thing - if you look in the dictionary for the word 'quirky' it should read 'just watch an Almodovar film and you'll know what it means'.
The film is not without it's faults (what is the point of the male lead in the film crew flirting with Cruz, and this storyline disappearing to nothing), however this is definitely worth 2 hours of your life. It is rich with character, humour as well as dealing with very serious issues like the abuse of children and how to deal with terminal illness, never being depressing, but tender and caring. Go on give it a shot - it's worth the effort!

Almodovar's most accomplished ...
... piece of cinema. Volver is the culminating film of Almodovar's return to the pastoral. His most self-reflexive film, Volver examines Spain's rural community, here La Mancha, Almodovar's birth place, and the importance it places on family. Meaning 'to return', the film includes another sparkling performance from Penelope Cruz, unrecognisable from her Hollywood sojourn, and the 'return' of Carmen Maura from her eighteen year hiatus. This film is majestic. The colours, the mise-en-scene, the music, locations - everything is superb. If you want to just sit and be mesmerised by a beautifully crafted piece of art then Volver is for you.