KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * * *
Verdict: Spanish maestro Almodovar composes a hymn to female solidarity which includes the most vigorous performance from Penelope Cruz since she went Hollywood.
Men are few, far between and largely superfluous in the newest film by this anarchically inventive Spanish maestro. The
most significant, the loutish husband of the hard-pressed Raimunda (Cruz), expires early. But although much of the plot is driven by Raimunda's attempt to get rid of his body, the film's most important character is a ghost.
"Volver", Spanish for "to return", has many more echoes - to restore (something to someone) and to do something again are just two of them - and Almodovar is playing with all those meanings.
The film marks a return to his childhood roots: moving between city and country village, the film-maker acknowledges his cramped smalltown upbringing on the plains of La Mancha, south of Madrid.
He is reconsidering his creative past as well: the ghost, Irene, is played by Carmen Maura, a star of the director's early films. Here, she arrives like a guardian angel, bringing redemption to her daughters: the sad-sack, solo Sole (Duenas) and Raimunda.
Raimunda hasn't killed her husband, but Almodovar is less concerned with the details of her predicament than with concocting a lush and rambunctious celebration of female solidarity.
Restored to her daughters, Irene is effortlessly included in the ensemble. In Almodovar's world, there is no reason that death should interrupt love.
The flamboyantly gay director has always adored women. Talk to Her and Bad Education had possibly his strongest male characters, but here he lets his camera caress each curve and crevice of Cruz.
In other contexts, it might seem lubricious, but the director is like a man admiring a peach who wants to paint it, not eat it. As a result, perhaps, he extracts the most vigorous performance from Cruz since Hollywood started draining the life out of her.
His reverence is tinged with deliciously transgressive wit. Interrupted as she disposes of the body, Raimunda answers the door with a streak of blood on her cheek. "Woman's troubles," she explains with a shrug, which is both truer than it seems and breathtakingly risque. It's hard to imagine another man writing that line for an actress without seeming sleazy and crass.
It's as good a signature moment as any in a film that blends Italian neo-realism with a lush red palette and an impish sense of fantasy. It may be more accessible to female than male audiences - I found it less approachable than Talk To Her - but it is an entertaining work from the most consistently distinctive and inventive director in the European arthouse.
Cast: Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Duenas
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Running time: 121 mins
Rating: M, offensive language and sexual references
Screening: Bridgeway, Rialto