VOLVER – Directed by Pedro Almodovar

This Spanish film, with Penelope Cruz, is clever and quirky as it follows two sisters dealing with death and return in their lives. 

The opening scene sets the tone of the film, showing women working to clean the gravestones in their village cemetery as a fierce wind quickly eradicates their work.  The scene is oddly funny and tragic, an emotional mix that runs throughout the movie.  Cruz deals with one loss after another – her parents are dead from a fire, her husband dies early in the movie, as does her aunt, and a close family friend is diagnosed with cancer.  To add to her troubles, her sister has begun seeing the ghost of their dead mother, and it seems others in the village have too.

The topics in the film are extremely serious, of death, loss, loneliness, and loss of community, but the viewer is eased in with bold, bright, colorful scenes, strong lighting, and odd humor.  The characters are multidimensional, and Cruz does an amazing job of being both sympathetic and slightly ruthless in her struggle to cope with what life has thrown her way.   As the film progresses, the humor backs off to leave the viewer to see that sad and poignant events can end with gentle hope.  Beautiful and positive, even with the dark topics.  Five stars.