Parallel Mothers

Summary

“You never put yourself in my place.”

I have been a fan of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar since I was a sophomore in college. I vividly remember discovering a room in the language labs area at Florida State where students could view any of the foreign films they owned in their library. You could view the films there on small television screens while wearing headphones. This is how I first viewed Talk to Her. While I have not seen every film by the director, I followed his career from that point forward. Almodovar is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in the world and it is easy to understand why after you watch his films. He is a talented writer with a unique ability to understand the male experience and the female experience through a lens of compassion. He has had a stable of a few actors throughout his career that have served as inspirations and helped him to articulate his work. The most famous of those would be Antonio Banderas or Penelope Cruz. Both have starred in or appeared in more than a handful of Almodovar’s films, and both starred in Almodovar’s 2019 film Pain and Glory, which I consider to be one of the finest films Almodovar has made. Penelope Cruz is wonderful onscreen when working with Almodovar. When those two work together, the film is typically excellent. Parallel Mothers is another enjoyable collaboration between the director and his muse.

Madrid 2016 – professional photographer Janis (Penelope Cruz) takes photos of a man posing for a spread in a magazine. His name is Arturo (Israel Elejaide.) After Janis finishes taking his photograph, she asks Arturo for advice regarding excavation of a grave site in the small town where she was raised. The grave holds her great grandfather and numerous other men from the town who had been killed in the first days of the Spanish Civil War by Franco and the fascists. Arturo works through a Historical Society that specializes in remembering the war and the darker side of Spanish history. He agrees to help by proposing the excavation project to the society. They drink some wine together that night. Afterward, he calls her and asks to see her again. The sexual nature of their relationship leads to an unexpected pregnancy. Janis finds herself roommates in the hospital with a teenage girl named Ana (Milena Smit.) They are both going to give birth at the same time. Janis is excited about the baby with no regrets, despite the fact that she will be raising the child as a single mother. Ana regrets the circumstances behind her pregnancy, which she does not reveal. Ana’s mother Teresa (Aiyana Sanchez-Gijon) is an actress, who is divorced from Ana’s father who lives in Granada. Teresa seemingly values her career more than her relationship with her daughter, but she does provide a home and help for her. When Janis brings her baby home, she notes the somewhat ethnic features of the baby. When Arturo sees the baby, named Cecilia, he believes that the baby may not be his. Having some doubts herself, Janis performs a genetic test to see if she is actually the mother of Cecilia. The results of the test set the course for the rest of the film which has some pretty intricate dramatic turns.

Penelope Cruz is remarkable in the film as Janis. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and definitely deserved the nomination for her work. The role of Janis would be taxing on any actress. It demands that the actress wear every type of insecurity on her sleeve and navigate grief, joy, and panic in equals parts. Cruz absolutely brings Janis to life as a multi-layered character that the audience should immediately empathize with. Cruz is the glue that holds the film together. The role of Ana is well portrayed by Milena Smit. Milena has not starred in many projects and it was nice to see a fresh face onscreen working for Almodovar. She carries her own, but the role of her character is at odds with her emotions, and therefore it is a little difficult to gauge the emotionality brought to the role by the actress. I liked her screen presence in the role and will enjoy seeing what roles she lands in the future. Israel Elejalde, Aiyana Sanchez-Gijon, and Rossy de Palma are all enjoyable in their roles in the film as well.

Almodovar writes well, even when the underlying machinations of this film can sometimes feel somewhat engineered (or maybe even contrived) rather than realistic. Parallel Mothers is a serious drama. It does not have much of Almodovar’s humor sprinkled in, but that was a deliberate choice. The plot of the film has some wild moments, and the characters make a few choices that sometimes stretch the boundaries of what might happen in their situation, but it never feels like anything in the script is written without a precise emotional response that Almodovar is driving toward. The film is uniquely suited to the geographical area in which it was made – Spain. Almodovar understands that the past doesn’t stay buried and it is important to remember the atrocities that happened before so that they do not repeat themselves. Almodovar lived through the era of Franco and wants the youth of his country to understand just how recently Spain was under fascist control and people could be simply executed for divergent beliefs. By mixing in those elements of Spain’s past into a highly dramatic film about motherhood and women, Almodovar makes a pretty intoxicating blend. The film can not reach the peaks of his 2019 film Pain and Glory, but it is still an incredibly interesting movie.

Fans of serious drama will definitely enjoy watching the film. The film is rated R for some very brief sexual scenes. There is no nudity in the film and the scenes are not horribly explicit. If you are a fan of Almodovar’s other work, Parallel Mothers will definitely be of interest to you.

Video

Parallel Mothers has been released onto Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Parallel Mothers was shot digitally on a Sony Cinealta Venice camera with digital film and the mastering of the film was performed in 4K. The Blu-ray presentation is presented in 1080p. This is one of the better looking 1080p releases of a 4K digital release I have seen in a little while. The cinematography by Almodovar’s frequent collaborator Jose Luis Alcaine is striking. Colors and fine details are very appealing and convincing. It would be great to see what this film looks like in native 4K (and I imagine that we will see it in 4K on Netflix, since they helped produce the film,) but as a physical media collector I was very pleased with how this film looked projected by my Epson 4K projector.

Audio

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track sounds great. The film is centered on dialogue, but the surrounds are used effectively to have the viewer feel immersed the proceedings. The score by Alberto Iglesias comes through the speakers very clearly. It’s a great score that heightens the impact of the actions onscreen while only occasionally drawing attention to itself.

Supplements:

• Trailer
• Previews

Overall Scores:

Video: 5/5

Audio: 4.5/5

Supplements: .5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Parallel Mothers is another excellent film by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar. The film is emotionally satisfying and rich, even when some of the plot’s machinations veer out of the territory of realism. The film benefits from an absolutely incredible performance by Penelope Cruz as Janis. The film’s exploration of the fascist past of Spain is as enlightening as it is haunting. As long as Almodovar continues to make films, I will continue to check them out. The Sony Pictures Classics Blu-ray features perfect video and excellent audio. The special features are the only disappointment on the disc with only a trailer and some previews. Fans of Almodovar and Spanish cinema will definitely want to check out this film.