As such, she begins to interact with Sole, then with her granddaughter, and finally with Raimunda.

Their mother (Carmen Maura), who believed to have died in a fire along with her husband, suddenly appears as a ghost.

Over the years, she has remained close to her sister Soledad, nicknamed Sole (Lola DueГ±as), who makes her living as a hairdresser, operating an illegal beauty parlor in her home. The heroine, Raimunda (PГ©nelope Cruz, in an Oscar-nominated turn), is married to an unemployed laborer with whom she has raised a teenage daughter (Yohana Cobo). вЂњVolverвЂќ could be described as a cross between вЂњMildred PierceвЂќ and вЂњArsenic and Old Lace,вЂќ infused with elements of AlmodovarвЂ™s own вЂњWhat Have I Done to Deserve This?вЂќ Among other distinctions, the filmвЂ™s strong female protagonist takes over a restaurant (just like Mildred) and makes a successful business out of it after her daughter kills her indifferent, parasitical, and abusive husband. In вЂњVolver,вЂќ Almodovar contests the prevailing clichГ©s about вЂњBlackвЂќ Spain, offering instead the opposite, a вЂњWhiteвЂќ Spain, in which communal life still prevails as a spontaneous, supportive, and life-affirming experience. The film is set in a lively working-class neighborhood, where immigrants from various Spanish provinces share with other groups the harsh realities of daily lives and occasionally their fantasies and dreams. Three generations of women have survived with strength, audacity, and vitality various disasters, some caused by Mother Nature (gusting winds, ferocious fires), others by many deaths, both natural and executed by others.

Though stylistically different, thematically, вЂњ VolverвЂќ belongs to the same universe as вЂњAll About My Mother,вЂќ centering on a group of victimized but resilient women who have (almost) no use for men in their lives.

Volver pedro almodovar analysis