Plot
After her death, a mother returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life.
Release Year: 2006
Rating: 7.6/10 (43,254 voted)
Critic's Score: 84/100
Director:
Pedro Almodóvar
Stars: Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas
Storyline Raimunda, her daughter Paula and her sister Sole travel from Madrid to the windy and superstitious village of Alcanfor de las Infantas to visit the grave of their mother and aunt Irene, who died years ago in a fire with her husband. Then they visit Irene's sister Paula, an old senile aunt that raised Raimunda after the death of her parents that insists to tell them that Irene is alive and living with her; later, they go to the house of her neighbor and friend Agustina, who gives a support to Paula. They return to Madrid, and after a hard day of work, Raimunda meets her daughter completely distraught at the bus stop waiting for her. When they arrive home, Paula tells that she killed her unemployed father Paco, who was completely drunk and tried to rape her. While Raimunda is hiding his body, Sole calls her to tell that their beloved aunt Paula had died. On the next morning, Sole travels alone to the funeral...
Cast: Penélope Cruz
-
Raimunda
Carmen Maura
-
Irene
Lola Dueñas
-
Sole
Blanca Portillo
-
Agustina
Yohana Cobo
-
Paula
Chus Lampreave
-
Tía Paula
Antonio de la Torre
-
Paco
Carlos Blanco
-
Emilio
María Isabel Díaz
-
Regina
(as Mª Isabel Díaz)
Neus Sanz
-
Inés
Leandro Rivera
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Auxiliar Producción
Pepa Aniorte
-
Vecina
Yolanda Ramos
-
Presentadora TV
Elvira Cuadrupani
-
Vecina
María Alfonsa Rosso
-
Vecina
(as Alfonsa Rosso)
Filming Locations: Almagro, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Opening Weekend: €1,783,597
(Spain)
(17 March 2006)
(228 Screens)
Gross: $85,585,147
(Worldwide)
(4 May 2008)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
According to Pedro Almodóvar, there's only one fake element in Raimunda's (Penélope Cruz) body: the bottom. He said that this kind of characters are usually big-bottomed people, and that Cruz is just too stylized.
Quotes: Irene:
Don't say that, Raimunda, or I'll start crying. And ghosts don't cry.
User Review
The Magic Of Compassion
Rating: 10/10
I'm not going to tell you what the film is about because what was about
for me it may not be for you and one of the many pleasures of the film
is to find yourself there. Just let me say that after the Sahara,
Vanilla Sky and Captain Corelli's Mandolin's adventures in Hollywood, I
had discarded Penelope Cruz as an actress, completely. Well, "Volver"
made me swallow my judgment. She is, quite simply, spectacular. A sort
of Sophia Loren when Sophia worked with Vittorio De Sica. She is a mass
of contradictions and not for a moment she tries to play for
sympathy.Her emotion is contagious and makes us comprehend the
incomprehensible. Carmen Maura makes a chilling, beautiful and unique
entrance into this sublime Almodovar film based on his most scrumptious
screenplay. The women stick together for each other's sake, they may
even cross unspeakable boundaries for sheer compassion. The film
uplifted me in a way that no other film has done in a long, long time.
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