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Scenes in search of a movie
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I wouldn't exactly call myself a fan of Almodovar's films, but I usually do enjoy watching them. My ambivalence towards him stems from the fact that, on the one hand, his movies tend to be messy works that try to do way too much. It's as if Almodovar is so bursting with creative energy and ideas that he just can't discipline himself to do one movie at a time, and instead tries to cram three or four into one. But, on the other hand, if one focuses on the scenes in each of the movies instead of the whole film, Almodovar's genius is sometimes breathtaking. Beautiful cinematography, wonderful scripts, superb acting. So my modus operandi for watching Almodovar these days is appreciating the scenes and forgetting about the coherency of the movie.
Volver is a mess, but a beautiful one. In an accompanying interview, Almodovar himself somewhat incredibly says that the film is about death: "it is precisely about death...More than about death itself, the screenplay talks about the rich culture that surrounds death in the region of La Mancha, where I was born. It is about the way (not tragic at all) in which various female characters, of different generations, deal with this culture." Most viewers, I suspect, won't have picked up on this, because, typically, death is only one of several themes. Others include mother-daughter relationships, incest, sexual abuse, friendship, and independent women. But forget all that, and focus on the scenes. The opening one of La Mancha women cleaning gravestones is one of the best to be found in an Almodovar film. Equally brilliant are the restaurant scenes. The final ones, in which Maura and Raimunda discuss the horrible family secret, truly mars the entire film. The secret has an incredible ring of falsity, and saps authenticity from what's gone before it.
Generally, the acting in "Volver" is superb. But for my money, the laurel goes to Lola Duenas for her portrayal of sister Sole.
.:. Rating:
4
/ 5
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