VOLVER is a
meeting of “Mildred Pierce” and “Arsenic and Old Lace”,
combined with the surrealistic naturalism of my fourth film,
“¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!!” (“What have I done to
Deserve This?”), that is, Madrid and its lively working-class
neighbourhoods, where the immigrants from the various Spanish
provinces share dreams, lives and fortune with a multitude of
ethnic groups and other races. At the heart of this social
framework, three generations of women survive wind, fire and
even death, thanks to goodness, audacity and a limitless
vitality.
They are Raimunda (Pénelope Cruz), who is married to
an unemployed labourer and has a teenage daughter (Yohana
Cobo); Sole (Lola Dueñas), her sister, who makes a living as a
hairdresser; and the mother of both (Carmen Maura), who died
in a fire along with her husband. This character appears first
to her sister (Chus Lampreave) and then to Sole, although the
people with whom she has some unresolved matters are Raimunda
and her neighbour in the village, Agustina (Blanca Portillo).
VOLVER is not a surrealistic comedy although it may seem so at
times.
The living and the dead coexist without any discord,
causing situations that are either hilarious or filled with a
deep, genuine emotion. It’s a film about the culture of death
in my native La Mancha. The people there practice it with an
admirable naturalness. The way in which the dead continue to
be present in their lives, the richness and humanity of their
rites mean that the dead never die. VOLVER destroys all the
clichés about “black” Spain and offers a Spain that is as real
as it is the opposite. A Spain that is white, spontaneous,
funny, intrepid, supportive and fair.
©
2006 Sony Classics.
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