Pedro Almodóvar is a master in telling an act of guilt with innocence. In this film though it is not alone the only thing to be on center stage but also is a colourful show of women dealing with their pasts. In that one tries to build a life for herself and mainly for her daughter. It may not be the touching emotional outburst as that of “Talk to her” but locates itself in a league of its own. Once the movie is finished, the paleness in my reaction is an example of how much of it stayed in the mind and also pushed me to analyze. It has the memory for the duration of the film. We feel of gaining some things out of it, but still left with feeling of nothingness surmising us.
There is an ease in the bond and empathy these women share among them. Every female in the movie are wonderfully cheering and elegantly understanding. And also the superstition and the belief are in their blood. May be they have outgrown in it in the exterior coming to the city but deep within when they are encountered by it, the surprise reactions are not surprise at all. They see it as if it is not new. That is the reaction you get from Sole (Lola Dueñas) when she sees her dead mother Irene (Carmen Maura) coming out from her car’s trunk. She is petrified but it lasts for couple of seconds. May be it is the reality Irene poses standing there flesh and blood. Or may be the way she talks with out any care or hesitation on how surprised or shocked her daughter is seeing her dead mother. Or it is the fact that the subconscious signals in both of them realize the moment and takes it ahead. There appears no purpose in her to come back but it will be revealed later when she meets Raimonda (Penélope Cruz), her other daughter.
Raimonda is some one who is hanging between the past and the present but worries more about the future, her daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo). Her instant reactions learning Paco (Antonio de la Torre) killed by Paula when he tried to sexually abuse her is tough to enact. Pedro uses the start of the movie to his advantage. We are unaware of what kind of woman Raimonda is. All we are let known is that she is a mother who works hard to make ends meet. And she is not fond of her mother. We also learn that she is not in good terms with Paco. She is a desperate woman trying to safeguard her child and Paco appears as there to be the “man” of the household than any other in those few minutes of sequence he appears. Raimonda begins to live her life and respect her instincts to do it. She starts to make nice surroundings of her own. She stores the body in the freezer of the restaurant nearby provided by her neighbour. Instead of letting it to be leased, she takes over it. She appears to be finally free of something. May be she wanted to get rid of Paco too but did not do it. We realize how she consoles Paula from the terror and why she is good in coaxing her too.
As much as the screenplay takes us through a journey of colourful incidents and animated talks, we can neither attach nor detach from the film. The personalities hang on from air with no strings attached except to their minds of their own. Irene does not hesitate to reveal herself in front of Sole but constantly hides herself from Raimonda. Sole does not questions this but involuntarily she goes along with it. We are too vouching for it. Not too long once the dark past comes to the light, we understand why Irene had her own guilt stopping to face Raimonda.
Both in “Talk to her” and “Volver”, the music plays a pivotal role in transpiring the pace and to give a colourful ambience for sorrowful souls. The lamentation takes the form of humour, crooked but the characters seek those with the same humour too. Cruz handles Raimonda with the sensitivity of a blue collar woman and also some one longing for real love both in men and the women she meets. With men she seems to attract and like being attracted but it stops there. Even her way of dressing comes to understanding. She dresses attractive and teasing but you know from the way of her talk, it is just teasing and nothing more.
The movie as such during the run time does not reveal its identity of characters doing what they do and the reason for it. An expectation of deus ex machina is unavoidable but it is there and not there too. It makes us to look back through the film. In movies having those, till the time of exposure, everything is riddle and things fall in place once the climax helps us in putting those correctly. Here the movie is a gentle ride on simple people living through their guilt quite normally. Paco’s death might be an accident. His intentions are treacherous and wicked. They solidly say that and yet Raimonda hides the body. The ending might not explain those but there are lot other explanations. We understand Raimonda.
There is an ease in the bond and empathy these women share among them. Every female in the movie are wonderfully cheering and elegantly understanding. And also the superstition and the belief are in their blood. May be they have outgrown in it in the exterior coming to the city but deep within when they are encountered by it, the surprise reactions are not surprise at all. They see it as if it is not new. That is the reaction you get from Sole (Lola Dueñas) when she sees her dead mother Irene (Carmen Maura) coming out from her car’s trunk. She is petrified but it lasts for couple of seconds. May be it is the reality Irene poses standing there flesh and blood. Or may be the way she talks with out any care or hesitation on how surprised or shocked her daughter is seeing her dead mother. Or it is the fact that the subconscious signals in both of them realize the moment and takes it ahead. There appears no purpose in her to come back but it will be revealed later when she meets Raimonda (Penélope Cruz), her other daughter.
Raimonda is some one who is hanging between the past and the present but worries more about the future, her daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo). Her instant reactions learning Paco (Antonio de la Torre) killed by Paula when he tried to sexually abuse her is tough to enact. Pedro uses the start of the movie to his advantage. We are unaware of what kind of woman Raimonda is. All we are let known is that she is a mother who works hard to make ends meet. And she is not fond of her mother. We also learn that she is not in good terms with Paco. She is a desperate woman trying to safeguard her child and Paco appears as there to be the “man” of the household than any other in those few minutes of sequence he appears. Raimonda begins to live her life and respect her instincts to do it. She starts to make nice surroundings of her own. She stores the body in the freezer of the restaurant nearby provided by her neighbour. Instead of letting it to be leased, she takes over it. She appears to be finally free of something. May be she wanted to get rid of Paco too but did not do it. We realize how she consoles Paula from the terror and why she is good in coaxing her too.
As much as the screenplay takes us through a journey of colourful incidents and animated talks, we can neither attach nor detach from the film. The personalities hang on from air with no strings attached except to their minds of their own. Irene does not hesitate to reveal herself in front of Sole but constantly hides herself from Raimonda. Sole does not questions this but involuntarily she goes along with it. We are too vouching for it. Not too long once the dark past comes to the light, we understand why Irene had her own guilt stopping to face Raimonda.
Both in “Talk to her” and “Volver”, the music plays a pivotal role in transpiring the pace and to give a colourful ambience for sorrowful souls. The lamentation takes the form of humour, crooked but the characters seek those with the same humour too. Cruz handles Raimonda with the sensitivity of a blue collar woman and also some one longing for real love both in men and the women she meets. With men she seems to attract and like being attracted but it stops there. Even her way of dressing comes to understanding. She dresses attractive and teasing but you know from the way of her talk, it is just teasing and nothing more.
The movie as such during the run time does not reveal its identity of characters doing what they do and the reason for it. An expectation of deus ex machina is unavoidable but it is there and not there too. It makes us to look back through the film. In movies having those, till the time of exposure, everything is riddle and things fall in place once the climax helps us in putting those correctly. Here the movie is a gentle ride on simple people living through their guilt quite normally. Paco’s death might be an accident. His intentions are treacherous and wicked. They solidly say that and yet Raimonda hides the body. The ending might not explain those but there are lot other explanations. We understand Raimonda.
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