VolverIn the moments when life gets the hardest, when things spin out of control, it is family which holds us together, and Volver highlights the strength of a family--and friends--who overcome the secrets they have kept from one another, and the strength of that unity in the bonds of womanhood spanning multiple generations. Volver does not start with the characters laying their cards on the table; on the contrary, the little revelations which unfold are the necessary give and take in the bonding between mother and daughter, between sisters, and drive home that almost unspoken dependence we have on our blood.
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Volver principally follows two sisters, Raimunda (Penélope Cruz) and Soledad (Lola Dueñas), who visit their sick Aunt Paula (Chus Lampreave) in the windswept village of Alcanfor de las Infantas, where the heavy winds necessitate frequent cleanings of the town cemetery, and echo the death of their parents--a fire in Venezuela. But Raimunda and Sole are doing well--or at least as well as they can. Sole runs an "illegal hair salon" out of her apartment, and Raimunda is working at least a couple of jobs, and is clearly the financial mind of the household, as evidenced by her irresponsible husband, Paco (Antonio de la Torre). But after Paco attempts to rape Raimunda's daughter--also named Paula (Yohana Cobo), who stabs him in self-defense--Raimunda is forced to take the lead of both covering up the incident and working out how she can support Paula and herself. Raimunda's response is to take the blame for the killing, the kind of brave defense one would expect from a mother committed to the welfare of her child, but something which still deserves credit. Her bond with Paula is forged stronger by their mutual secret, by their shared pain in the overcoming of the experience. Much of these kind of milestones in familial bonding are aligned with death; shortly after this incident, Sole calls Raimunda to inform her that their aunt Paula has passed away. When Sole attends the funeral, she believes she sees the phantasm of her mother in her aunt's house...only to find that her and Raimunda's mother is actually still alive. Over the course of Volver, the reason for her reemergence into the lives of her daughters is explained, though with caution, since Raimunda and her mother, Irene (Carmen Maura) were not on speaking terms at the time of her disappearance many years before, both of them harboring terrible secrets from one another, memories too painful to express until they are pressed to do so. Sole takes Irene in and disguises her as a Russian assistant, where the two of them bond over their missed experiences and their misfortune in relations with men.
Just as Volver deals with the strength of family--reinforced by a purging of secrets and the reaffirming of trust--so too does the movie concern itself with the strength of womanhood. Raimunda, Sole, Irene, and even Raimunda's neighborhood friends are some of the hardest working women around, breaking their backs to make some money to support their families and help one another. Women in Volver share a heightened sense of community; when Raimunda is found using the restaurant her friend left her to watch over while he is away, a young man from a film crew asks her if the restaurant can accommodate them for meals. Although the restaurant is not Raimunda's she takes the risk of using the space to make some money cooking for thirty people, buying the groceries--clearly price conscious in her acquisitions--and soliciting friends for assistance, who support her, and Raimunda reciprocates with a profit for them. Even Sole's hair styling out of her apartment is evidence that she is struggling to get by, making do with what she can. In Volver--as is often the case in the world--women are the real breadwinners, the ones who are the backbone of the family, making sacrifices and forced to be creative to ensure the stability of that family; certainly it wasn't Paco, and as Paula's neighbor Agustina (Blanca Portillo)--suffering from cancer and seeking her own sister--informs Raimunda that neither was her father...something Raimunda does not seemed too surprised to hear. Raimunda handles all the planning for the "disposal" of Paco--herself far from an expert of dealing with a dead body, but bless her heart, she tries. It's clear that she's not planning on any fancy funeral, but she once again recruits her neighbor to aid her in disposing of the body, involving some serious heavy labor. But Raimunda is like many of the great mothers of the world--that is to say, all the ones who love their children. There may be the sense that her disposal of Paco is to keep her safe, but really we know that it is to protect her daughter, a mission which echoes in her own secretive relationship with her and her own mother. The title--Volver--comes from a song of reminiscence which Raimunda sings one night at the wrap party for the film crew, a song which would have been used by her as a child for acting auditions, but which in fact is filled with much more longing and wistfulness more suited to an adult, one who looks back on her memories of a past gone by, which is appropriate for Raimunda and her mother. As Raimunda sings, her mother is hiding in the back seat of Sole's car, listening, crying to the memories it evokes; Raimunda is on the verge of tears, because of the same reasons...or maybe she caught a glimpse of her mother in the car. And "volver" means 'to go back" or "return"--as the song takes them back to the past, their love of family.
Recommended for: Fans of a drama about a woman trying to keep her family together, and the sister who wants to reunite them with their returned mother. It may bank toward melodrama, but the film is about the bonds of family, and how a mother is the center of it.
Just as Volver deals with the strength of family--reinforced by a purging of secrets and the reaffirming of trust--so too does the movie concern itself with the strength of womanhood. Raimunda, Sole, Irene, and even Raimunda's neighborhood friends are some of the hardest working women around, breaking their backs to make some money to support their families and help one another. Women in Volver share a heightened sense of community; when Raimunda is found using the restaurant her friend left her to watch over while he is away, a young man from a film crew asks her if the restaurant can accommodate them for meals. Although the restaurant is not Raimunda's she takes the risk of using the space to make some money cooking for thirty people, buying the groceries--clearly price conscious in her acquisitions--and soliciting friends for assistance, who support her, and Raimunda reciprocates with a profit for them. Even Sole's hair styling out of her apartment is evidence that she is struggling to get by, making do with what she can. In Volver--as is often the case in the world--women are the real breadwinners, the ones who are the backbone of the family, making sacrifices and forced to be creative to ensure the stability of that family; certainly it wasn't Paco, and as Paula's neighbor Agustina (Blanca Portillo)--suffering from cancer and seeking her own sister--informs Raimunda that neither was her father...something Raimunda does not seemed too surprised to hear. Raimunda handles all the planning for the "disposal" of Paco--herself far from an expert of dealing with a dead body, but bless her heart, she tries. It's clear that she's not planning on any fancy funeral, but she once again recruits her neighbor to aid her in disposing of the body, involving some serious heavy labor. But Raimunda is like many of the great mothers of the world--that is to say, all the ones who love their children. There may be the sense that her disposal of Paco is to keep her safe, but really we know that it is to protect her daughter, a mission which echoes in her own secretive relationship with her and her own mother. The title--Volver--comes from a song of reminiscence which Raimunda sings one night at the wrap party for the film crew, a song which would have been used by her as a child for acting auditions, but which in fact is filled with much more longing and wistfulness more suited to an adult, one who looks back on her memories of a past gone by, which is appropriate for Raimunda and her mother. As Raimunda sings, her mother is hiding in the back seat of Sole's car, listening, crying to the memories it evokes; Raimunda is on the verge of tears, because of the same reasons...or maybe she caught a glimpse of her mother in the car. And "volver" means 'to go back" or "return"--as the song takes them back to the past, their love of family.
Recommended for: Fans of a drama about a woman trying to keep her family together, and the sister who wants to reunite them with their returned mother. It may bank toward melodrama, but the film is about the bonds of family, and how a mother is the center of it.