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 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 her mother that she killed her unemployed father Paco, who was completely drunk and tried to rape her. While Raimunda hides his body, Sole calls her to tell that their beloved aunt Paula has died. The next morning, Sole travels alone to the funeral, and when she returns to Madrid, she finds her mother hidden in the trunk of her car. She brings Irene to her apartment, where secrets from the past are disclosed.
Volver (Spanish pronunciation: [bolˈβer], meaning “to go back”) is a 2006 Spanish drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Headed by actress Penélope Cruz, the film features an ensemble cast also starring Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, and Chus Lampreave. Revolving around an eccentric family of women from a wind-swept region south of Madrid, Cruz plays Raimunda, a working-class woman forced to go to great lengths to protect her 14-year-old daughter Paula. To top off the family crisis, her mother Irene comes back from the dead to tie up loose ends.
The plot originates in Almodóvar’s earlier film The Flower of My Secret (1995), where it features as a novel which is rejected for publication but is stolen to form the screenplay of a film named The Freezer. Drawing inspiration from the Italian neorealism of the late 1940s to early 1950s and the work of pioneering directors such as Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, and Pier Paolo Pasolini, Volver addresses themes like sexual abuse, loneliness and death, mixing the genres of farce, tragedy, melodrama, and magic realism. Set in the La Mancha region, Almodovar’s place of birth, the filmmaker cited his upbringing as a major influence on many aspects of the plot and the characters.
Volver was one of the films competing for the Palme d’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. It eventually won two awards: Best Actress (shared by the six main actresses) and Best Screenplay. The film’s premiere was held on March 10, 2006, in Puertollano, Spain, where the filming had taken place. Penélope Cruz was nominated for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the first Spanish woman ever to be nominated in that category.
In the US alone, the film had made $12,897,993 (15.4% of total) at the box office after 26.4 weeks of release in 689 theatres. The box office figure from the rest of the world is somewhere in the region of $71,123,059 (84.6% of total) according to Box Office Mojo. The total worldwide gross is estimated at $84,021,052. As of January 22, 2007, the film had grossed $12,241,181 at the Spanish box office.
Shooting
“The most difficult thing about Volver has been writing its synopsis. My films are becoming more and more difficult to relate and summarize in a few lines. Fortunately, this difficulty has not been reflected in the work of the actors, or of the rest of the crew. The shooting of “Volver” went like clockwork.
I guess I enjoyed it more because the last shoot (Bad Education) was absolute hell. I had forgotten what it was like to shoot without constantly feeling as though I was on the edge of the abyss. This doesn’t mean that Volver is better than my last film (in fact, I’m very proud of having made Bad Education) just that this time, I suffered less. In fact, I didn’t suffer at all.
In any case, Bad Education confirmed something essential for me (which I had already discovered on Matador and Live Flesh): you can never throw in the towel. Even if you’re convinced that your work is a disaster, you have to keep fighting for every shot, every take, every look, every silence, every tear. You mustn’t lose a drop of enthusiasm even if you’re in despair. The passing of time gives you another perspective and sometimes, things weren’t as bad as you once thought.”
The Strength and Fragility of Penelope Cruz
And the beauty… Penélope is at the height of her beauty. It’s a cliché but in her case it’s true. (Those eyes, her neck, her shoulders, her breasts!! Penélope has got one of the most spectacular cleavages in world cinema). Looking at her has been one of the great pleasures of this shoot. Although she has become stylised in the last few years, Penélope showed (from her debut in “Jamón, jamón”) that she has more force playing plebeian characters than in very refined ones. Seven or eight years ago, in Live Flesh, she played an uncouth hooker who goes into labour and gives birth on a bus. They were the first eight minutes of the film and Penélope literally devoured the screen.
Her Raimunda in Volver comes from the same stock as Carmen Maura’s character in What Have I done to Deserve This?!, a force of nature that isn’t daunted by anything. Penélope can come up with that overwhelming energy, but Raimunda is also a fragile woman, very fragile. She can (and must, because of the script) be furious and a moment later, collapse like a defenceless child. This disarming vulnerability is what surprised me most about Penélope-actress, and the speed with which she can get in touch with it.
There isn’t a more impressive spectacle than watching, all in the same shot, how a pair of dry, menacing eyes can suddenly start to fill with tears, tears that at times spill over like a torrent or, as in some sequences, only fill her eyes without ever spilling over. Witnessing that balance in imbalance has been thrilling. Penélope Cruz is a strong-minded actress, but it is the mixture with that sudden, devastating emotion which makes her indispensable in Volver.
It was a pleasure to dress, comb and make up the character and the person. Penélope’s body ennobles whatever you put on it. We decided on straight skirts and cardigans because they are classic garments, very feminine and popular in any decade, from the 1950s to 2000. And, it also must be said, because they reminded us of Sophia Loren, in her early days as a Neapolitan fishmonger.
We have to thank the hairdresser Massimo Gattabrusi for the wonderful dishevelled hair-dos and Ana Lozano for the make-up. The extended eye-liner was a real find. There is just one false asset on Raimunda’s body: her ass. These characters are always big-assed women and Penélope is too slim. The rest is all heart, emotion, talent, truth, and a face that the camera adores. As I do.
Continue Reading and View the Theatrical Trailer
Volver (2006)
Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Yohana Cobo, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Chus Lampreave, Antonio de la Torre, María Isabel Díaz, Yolanda Ramos, Elvira Cuadrupani, María Alfonsa Rosso
Screenplay by: Pedro Almodóvar
Production Design by: Salvador Parra
Cinematography by: José Luis Alcaine
Film Editing by: José Salcedo
Costume Design by: Bina Daigeler
Set Decoration by: Mara Matey
Music by: Alberto Iglesias
MPAA Rating: R for some sexual content and language.
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: November 3, 2006
Visits: 166
