Volver (2006)
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Volver Movie Review
Volver is a 2006 Spanish drama film directed by Pedro Almodovar and starring Penelope Cruz. It truly is such a well acted, but incredibly soapy movie.
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“Don’t say that, Raimunda or I’ll start crying.
And ghosts don’t cry“
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Yes, this is one of Almodovar’s weakest efforts. It’s better than ‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’ for sure, but miles down the line from the classics such as ‘Talk to Her’. That’s because the story itself is unbelievable and sappy. It involves an old woman thought to be dead but who is still alive and it also gives us twists which reveal different parentage and family ties of its characters.
None of its plot points felt plausible in any way. It all felt ridiculous and reminded me of those endless Latin soap operas. The entire third act was simply ludicrous. I do admit that some scenes near the end were quite emotional, but it’s a shame that I couldn’t believe any of it.
Volver’s another strong woman’s film from this director and surely he paints very strong female characters once again. I found Bianca Portillo’s character very likable and Carmen Maura is definitely very good in her problematic role. But this is Penelope Cruz’s movie and she delivered the performance of a lifetime here.
She excelled in those emotional scenes and was consistently believable proving once again how she is a very good actress when acting in Spanish films. The Academy even recognized her work by nominating it which just goes to show how terrific she is when this xenophobic group of people nominated her.
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So Volver is definitely phenomenally acted across the board and it is also emotionally fulfilling. It does deal with serious themes such as sexual abuse and death and is pretty dark while still being lightweight which I liked quite a bit. The dialogue is also fine. But the film is shot and directed in an uninspired way that it definitely led to a somewhat TV feeling movie along with its soapy nature. So in the end, I find it to be a pretty passable, but still highly disappointing movie.
Volver has its emotional sequences and it’s phenomenally acted across the board with the standout being Oscar-nominated Penelope Cruz who was unexpectedly fantastic here and delivering the performance of a lifetime. But the film features such ridiculous, entirely implausible twists and turns as its entire story is frustratingly soapy leading to what is arguably an overly extended telenovela episode.
