For his latest film, Almodóvar returns with two subjects that are close to his heart, mother-daughter relationships and the collective memory of a Spain that is still looking for the disappeared of the dictatorship. Always equal to himself but, with that touch of wisdom that increments more and more his films, the director walks us through the most intimate paths of his country, shows us his affection and shares his roots.
History, Almodóvar as passionate as usual.
Janis and Ana meet at the hospital, both about to give birth. They become friends and exchange phone numbers. But once home, Janis realizes that her little girl doesn't have the same traits of her family at all.
Technical fact sheet
Director and Screenplay: Pedro Almodóvar Music: Alberto Iglesias Production companies: El Deseo Country of origin: Spain Genre: Drama Released: 2021
distribution
Penélope Cruz as Janis Milena Smit as Ana Israel Elejalde as Arturo Aitana Sanchez-Gijon as Teresa Rossy de Palma as Elena 
Impressions
In 2018, Pedro Almodóvar produced the documentary "The Silence of Others" ("El silencio de otros"). This film is about the victims who survived the Franco regime. Of all those people who continue to look for their families tortured, murdered and thrown into mass graves, eager to bury them and give them rest. Many are still fighting today for justice and for the victims of the dictatorship not to be forgotten. The subjects of crimes against humanity and collective memory are very controversial, knowing that Spain is one of the countries in the world with the largest number of murdered people scattered in the wild. For his latest film, Almodóvar returns as usual, with subjects that are close to his heart: the Spanish Civil War and everything related to the question of mothers. He again chose to be accompanied by Alberto Iglesias, his regular composer since "The Flower of My Secret" (1995). His electro and experimental tendencies reinforce the melodramatic side, the effects of Greek tragedy with strong post-war soap opera orientations. For the Spanish speaker who speaks to you, Almodovar's films are like memories that belong to us. With his camera flush with the ground, flush with the walls, he reminds us of the walks of our childhood. The wooden doors, the sound they make when you open them, the rustic decoration inside the houses, the villages sleeping in the sun… all these elements so inherent to deep Spain, let us feel the smells of cold and humidity mixed with those of late cooking, ham and cold cuts hanging somewhere. Bacon, onions, potato omelette. They let us hear the cicadas, the flat calm of sunny afternoons. The comments, the dialogues, the way of expressing oneself, it gives each time the impression that the director was able to take a piece, a snippet of a moment of our life. That, undeniably, is what makes it great. Excessive? Perfectionist? He is able to reproduce a painting down to the smallest detail, making it as raw as it is realistic. In Madres Paralelas, he explores once again the mother-daughter relationships or rather, the relationships of single women with each other in the face of motherhood and everyday problems. During the78th Venice Film Festival, the director said: "Now I'm more interested in imperfect mothers, those who are going through complicated moments to solve. The mothers in my other films were different, they came from the upbringing I received." (Source) 
But if the story is amazing and convoluted and keeps us as on our toes as the Mexican telenovelas of 40 years ago, one wonders what the subject of the disappeared of the dictatorship comes to do in there. This is not a secondary theme but rather two subjects fighting over who will win. Is this a way of Mr. Almodóvar to make us understand that despite the vagaries of life, and the stories that happen to us, there are still problems around us that persist and that probably will never know the outcome? The country is very divided over collective memory and Almodóvar said he had to restrict himself when writing the screenplay, for fear that the subject would swallow up that of the two parallel mothers. Commentaries will later say that perhaps the aspect of the excavations did not absorb the main subject but this was the main issue of the Venice Film Festival. 
I come back again to the title of the film. Wanted or not, there are two parallels in this film. They have in common the role of women. Women who have lost their father, their husband, their newborn (a very common procedure of the Francoists) but also women who are single mothers today and who try to live their motherhood at the same time as their professional life. Or their lives at all. These two equally important subjects, these two parallels, sharing asylum under the same roof of the film, and sometimes resign themselves to a very abrupt way of seeing things. Janis talks at home with the anthropologist about possible excavations. They chat very seriously over a glass of red wine and a plate of ham and then, without melting, almost for no reason, we see them throwing themselves in the air (having sex, making love would perhaps be a more academic definition but would not fit the scene). And then Janis is in the hospital giving birth. She rushes into a story that seems to impose itself as the story of the film. But no, the excavations are coming back and we do not know where to look. A small feeling of vertigo that slightly taints our two-hour journey with the filmmaker and his ideals. 
Penelope Cruz, bubbly, magnificent as we know her, would have recognized this role as the best given by Almodóvar. As a gift that would have allowed him to fulfill himself. But here's another great aspect of the director: his way of making a role, the role of a lifetime. And this with the same actor or actress for each film. Rossy De Palma doesn't even need to talk. Its presence is part of Spain, the colors of Almodóvar. It reassures us, it tells us, you are on familiar ground.
Price
2021: Venice Film Festival: Volpi Cup – Best Actress (Cruz), Opening Film 2021: Goya Awards: 8 nominations, including Best Film and Director 2021: Forqué Awards: 3 nominations, including Best Film 2021: Feroz Awards: 8 nominations, including Best Dramatic Film 2021: Satellite Awards: 3 nominations, including Best Actress in a Drama (Cruz)
