Entertainment News
2006-03-14
Almodóvar's
gaze returns to women in his new film
Oscar-winning
Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, known for twisted,
eccentric comedies set in modern Spain, retu
Oscar-winning
Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, known for twisted,
eccentric comedies set in modern Spain, returns in his
latest movie to a subject he loves: women.
Volver, which is Spanish for the verb "return,"
is a tale of troubled relations among three
generations of women—the female lead played by
Penélope Cruz, her mother, and Cruz's character's
teenage daughter. The film was screened for
journalists on Monday and opens to the public in Spain on
Friday.
So problematic
are the ties that the grandmother, played by veteran
Spanish actress Carmen Maura, comes back from the dead to
resolve outstanding issues with Raimunda, a beautiful
and feisty character played by Cruz. The reunion takes
place after Cruz and her daughter travel from Madrid
to their old village in La Mancha, the arid, conservative
region of central Spain where Almodóvar grew up
in the '50s and '60s, to visit the grandmother's
grave. Men play an insignificant role in this flick.
"Volver is
a film of actresses," Almodóvar, 56, told
reporters after the viewing. He was accompanied by
Cruz and Maura, both of whom have appeared in other
Almodóvar films. This is his 16th.
He described
Cruz's character as a "Sophia Loren type of housewife,
wearing low-cut clothes, full of life and courage."
Almodóvar is often described as a women's
director because many of his films have revolved
around strong, sympathetic female characters—a
demographic sector he has described as "more amusing
and luminous" than men. Almodóvar's All About
My Mother won the Academy Award for best
foreign film in 1999, and Talk to Her won the Oscar
for best original screenplay in 2003. (AP)
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