Volver

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Volver

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Volver

Penelope Cruz, Yohana Cobo, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo

Set in Spain, this is a generational story of three women: a good mother who is desperately in love with a man who is far from being a saint; a young mother carrying a hard life upon her shoulders; an...( read more  read more... )d an illegal hairdresser whose shop is the meeting point for all the neighborhood gossips.

Id: 5201471

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Volver Recent Reviews
  • mrpopcorn
    December 17, 2009
    mrpopcorn
    "Don't say that, Raimunda, or I'll start crying. And ghosts don't cry."

    After her death, a mother returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life.

    REVIEW
    ...( read more)nter>
    "Volver" explores and elucidates, vividly and dazzling, that thing we call womanhood. Once again, Almodóvar demonstrates that he is one of the few male directors who understand the woman's psychic. The way they cope with tragedy, the manner in which they support and encourage one another, the way they deal with the opposite sex; "Volver" is all about women. It really doesn't matter that the film is not perfect. The twists and turns are easy to predict - there are hardly any surprises in the film - but then I have always thought Almodóvar is a far better director than he is a writer. It works because the film is always on target, on message. Penelope Cruz blossoms under Almodóvar's self-assured direction. Sensual, earthy, charming; she reminded me of Sophia Loren in her prime. Almodovar's stock company of actors performs admirably well too. Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas and Chus Lampreave shine in key supporting roles. It's top tier Almodóvar - his winning streak continues.
  • RCCLBC
    December 2, 2009
    RCCLBC
    There are few things that I enjoy more then a trip to "Almodovarland". A place where the line between past and present is always a little blurred. Where the visual style is always a colorful melange of retro-modern details.

    And the women...oh the women! They are always a de...( read more)light to watch. With the women too the line is blurred, between staunch determination and utter insanity. And whichever side of the line that these ladies fall, they are always a pleasure to watch. Full of humor, passion and love.

    With Volver, Penelope Cruz really gets to show the world what she can do. She is breathtaking to look at and her performance here is both heartbreaking and at times heartwarming. And as is his style Pedro has surrounded her with a cast of brilliant actors (some new faces and some old favorites) and together they are brilliant.

    The story is the usual combination of absurd chracters in crazy situations held together by strained romantic and/or familial ties that (to spite their quirky absurd nature) are oddly relatable, because so often they are more close to reality then we would care to admit.

    Not to be missed for Almodovar fans.
  • 76Majikat
    November 22, 2009
    76Majikat
    I am now intriged by Pedro Almodóvar's work and intend to work my way through this list.



    This is by far my favourite role for Penelope Cruz, who has always been an actress I can take or leave. Her role as a hard working Mum on the poverty line and coping with a seri...( read more)es of events causing just a little bit of chaos, which take several twists and turns.



    A totally original piece and one I certainly recommend
  • SirPant
    October 2, 2009
    SirPant
    Pedro Almodóvar is one of the only directors in the world who has perfected the balance of comedy and tragedy and he proves it in Volver. The cast is excellent and it?s filmed beautifully, it?s brilliant, quite typical of Almodovar!
  • binky013
    September 2, 2009
    binky013
    Although I'm still hoping to see another Almodóvar as amazing as Talk to Her, this is well worth watching. I tell you true, up until I saw this, I did not know that Penelope Cruz could act. She can, and she is amazing in this. Not to mention that she has quite a good si...( read more)nging voice -- a bonus! I'm ready for anything, these days, and when that cultural flair for magical realism can come into play at any moment, I'm absolutely ready for ghosts to walk among us, talk to us, live with us, eat with us, and sleep with us. Without spoiling anything, I hope, I want to tell you I was ready to believe, you know? How about you? Amazing how that turned around.

    Almodóvar loves women. If you've not figured that out, you'll realize it here. Men? . . .

    A beautiful story about family and inter-generational communication and understanding. You know, if the daughter had not reminded Raimunda of the problem she'd had with her "father," about an hour into the movie, I would have forgotten about him and where he was, uh, hiding. Women reign supreme here.
  • emilebond007
    January 2, 2010
    emilebond007
    Penelope Cruz is the most beautiful thing on Earth.
  • micastino
    January 1, 2010
    micastino
    One of Almodóvar´s masterpieces... Brilliant!
  • dex5
    November 27, 2009
    dex5
    ¡uy! que olor a pedo.

    ...y los fantasmas no lloran.
  • xtremeandy
    November 24, 2009
    xtremeandy
    what agreat Film By Almodovar and great acting cast as always this story is a little slow and it is better appreciated by people from the spain area but equally at the same time it can a story from any spanish novels or stories!! Am I making sense here nonetheless it' s a great f...( read more)ilm!! it brings conclusion to life!!

    Volver ("To Return") occurs in Spain in 2006. Raimunda (Penélope Cruz), her sister Sole (Lola Dueñas) and Raimunda's 14-year-old daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo) visit their home village of Alcanfor de las Infantas to clean the tombstones of their dead parents, who died in a fire four years earlier. They also visit the home of their aunt, Tía Paula (Chus Lampreave). The aunt is living in the past and knows only Raimunda. They stop by to visit a neighbor, Agustina (Blanca Portillo), who looks after Tía Paula and whose own mother disappeared the day Raimunda's parents died.

    The women return to Madrid, where they live. Raimunda's husband, Paco (Antonio de la Torre) attempts to molest Paula, who kills him with a knife. He claimed she was not his daughter. Raimunda later confesses this is true and that Paula's real father is dead. Raimunda must hide the crime and dispose of the body. Opportunity knocks; a neighbor is leaving town and asks Raimunda to look after a nearby empty restaurant.

    Tía Paula dies and Raimunda cannot go to Alcanfor de las Infantas because she must hide the body of Paco in a freezer in the restaurant. A film crew is looking for meals and Raimunda opens the restaurant and runs the place with help of her neighbors.

    Sole goes to Alcanfor de las Infantas for Tía Paula's funeral. Neighbors claim to have seen the ghost of Irene (Carmen Maura), Raimunda and Sole's mother. Sole finds Irene hidden in the trunk of her car and is unsure if she is a ghost. Irene stays with Sole in Madrid, helping to run a hair salon business inside her apartment. Paula also knows the secret; her grandmother has returned from the dead. The secret is kept from Raimunda, since she hated her mother. Irene hides every time Raimunda visits her sister.

    Agustina has cancer and is dying, shows up in Madrid and visits with Raimunda. Agustina asks Raimunda to find out from Irene if she knows if Agustina's missing mother is alive. Raimunda thinks Agustina is crazy.

    Raimunda literally buries her past, the freezer containing Paco, by a river near Alcanfor de las Infantas. Raimunda finally is told about her mother's return, but refuses to talk to her. Paula convinces Raimunda to reconcile with Irene.

    Irene confesses that Tía Paula told her that Raimunda's father molested Raimunda and Paula is both the daughter and sister of Raimunda. When Irene found out the truth she went to confront her husband and found him in bed, asleep, with Agustina's mother. Irene burned down the hut, killing the pair, and went into hiding. Irene asks for Raimunda's forgiveness for not realizing she was being molested. Raimunda, Irene, Sole and Paula return to Alcanfor de las Infantas, a family once again. Irene is not a ghost, since ghosts can't cry. She will stay to take care of Agustina in her final days, the least she can do for killing Agustina's mother.

    Raimunda lives in Madrid with her daughter Paula and her husband Paco, who is always drunk. Her sister, Sole, is separated and works clandestinely as a hairstylist for women. The two sisters lost their parents in a fire in La Mancha, their birth village, years ago. Their aunt, Paula, still lives in the village and continues to speak about her sister Irene, mother of the two sisters, as if she were still alive. When the old aunt dies the situation changes and the past returns(volver) in a twist of mystery and suspense.

    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 disturbed in 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, and when she returns to Madrid, she finds her mother hided in the truck of her car. She brings Irene to her apartment, where secrets from the past are disclosed.
  • rickrudge
    November 9, 2009
    rickrudge
    Volver (2006)

    I've been hearing a lot about the Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar and was anxious to see Volver which occasionally comes on TV. Yeah, it's a chick flick, but it also deals with the dead, spirits, and family. The Movie starts out with a cemetery full of widows sc...( read more)rubbing down grave stones of their husbands.

    Raimunda (Penélope Cruz), her Daughter, Paula (Yohana Cobo) and her Sister, Sole (Lola Dueñas) are back from Madrid to their small hometown, scrubbing everything down. While in town, they also stop in to see their elder Aunt who is blind, senile, and not even able to get around very well, yet she has baked a bunch of cookies and wrapped everything up in individual marked containers for each girl. What is also strange is that the upstairs has an exercise bicycle, and smells just like their long dead Mother.

    Raimunda is in something of a dead marriage at home. One evening she finds that her daughter has killed her husband for attempting to rape her. Raimunda quickly hides the body at a friend's restaurant freezer chest. Later, the Aunt dies and Sole attends the wake and is very surprised to find (the ghost?) of her Mother, Irene (Carmen Maura) hiding in her trunk. She has come to live with her. The film is part comedy, part melodrama.

    As with most chick flicks, there's lots of talking but not much communicating. Any men in this film are the enemy; horn dogs just wanting to hump their legs. There is also a family mystery over Raimunda's Father and the neighbor woman back home.

    It's a very good movie; well made and put together and well worth a look.
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