VOLVER Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Sony Pictures Classics
Grade: B
Directed by: Pedro Almodovar
Written By: Pedro Almodovar
Cast: Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Duenas, Blanca
Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave, Antonio de la Torre,
Carlos Blanco, Maria Isabel Diaz, Nieves Sanz Escobar
Screened at: Sony, NYC, 9/21/06
Opens: November 3, 2006 Are people who live in towns outside big cities the same all over the Western world? You’d think so, given the power of globalization, the “it’s-a-small-world-after-all” syndrome. But somehow you’d not expect women living in Great Neck, New York or Elk Village, Illinois to spend an entire day at the cemetery not just visiting but thoroughly sweeping the leaves from the gravestones and polishing up the monuments. Then again, if the ghost of a dear departed member appeared publicly in Ashland, Oregon or Creskill, New Jersey, you’d not expect the townspeople to treat the event in a matter-of-fact manner. But in the mind of Pedro Almodovar, whose sixteenth feature, “Volver,” is a loving portrait of women both within and outside Madrid, a phantom mother can indeed return from the dead without being the subject of horror or incredulity. On the contrary, when the ghost of one Irene (Carmen Maura) saunters up to the large home inhabited by Aunt Paula (Chus Lampreave), an elderly woman living alone and legally blind, the folks consider that she’s concerned about the woman’s welfare and checked in to take care of this aging widow. In fact the only frightening thing about “Volver” is how conventional Almodovar has become. Known for idiosyncratic movies, often portraying transsexuals in a positive light–whose “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!” deals with a mental patient who kidnaps a former porn star and ties her to a bed–Almodovar still sticks to his signature love of women as a life force. The men in “Volver” are nothing to write home about. One is a couch potato who in a drunken state molests his daughter, while another, unseen because he is dead (and in Almodovar’s mind only women can return from the grave), actually raped his daughter, who bears his child. As a story, “Volver” is not much of a narrative, but it does stand out for excellent ensemble acting and what is probably Penelope Cruz’s best performance. Here Cruz performs in the role of Raimunda, a cleaner at the airport in Madrid, whose teenage daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo) is clueless about the identity of her father. When Paula’s shiftless stepfather, Paco (Antonio de la Torre), sexually assaults her, Paula stabs him to death, the crime covered up by Raimunda, who in one of the film’s comic moments stashes the body in a deep freezer. Almodovar mines both comedy and pathos from scenes involving the return of Irene’s ghost who, according to a pot-smoking neighbor, Agustina (Blanca Portillo), is casually accepted by the townspeople. When Irene confronts Raimunda’s hairdresser sister and Irene’s daughter, Sole (Lola Duenas), Sole hides her in a bedroom, passing her off as a Russian emigre. Talky though the film is, plot complications move quickly, as Almodovar shows that we’re all connected: children and parents, neighbors and friends. There’s even a spoof of snarky reality shows, which appear to be as popular in Spain as they are here in the U.S. The one question some may have is whether Irene is indeed a ghost or whether she is a normal human being who disappeared, having just happened to burn her husband and his lover to death when she became fed up with his cheating. Rated R. 121 minutes 2006 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com Member: NY Film Critics Online | 
