Parallel Mothers * * * * ½

I have to ask, would I rate this film higher if it were by someone else?  Such are the expectations one has of Pedro Amodovar.

Either way, you can be sure of one thing: Parallel Mothers is a very fine film and well worth taking the time out for. A four star effort from Pedro Amodovar would probably be regarded as close to a five star by most other directors.

Amodovar's work is often domestic and family orientated, with a lot of emphasis on Mum.  Rather than introducing us to an existing family, in this film he creates a new unorthodox family as unlikely people come together.

He also confronts another issue and opens wounds from long ago - dealing with the long term consequence of the Spanish Civil War and the awful crimes that were committed.

Mothers Club: Ana and Janis

Penelope Cruz plays Janis.  A woman determined to properly put to rest members of her family who were  murdered so long ago in the Civil war.  At the same time she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant at forty years of age.  She knows the who father is - Arturo, a man she recently had an affair with. Coincidentally he is an archaeologist specialising in the Spanish Civil War.  

Janis is a photographer who works for the magazine that is doing an article on him. After photographing him, she asks him to look into the possibility of searching for the lost graves of her ancestors.

Whilst in hospital giving birth Janis meets Ana, a teenage girl also having a baby.  Ana's pregnancy was not born out of love, but neverthless she is determined to keep, and to love, her baby.   Despite their age difference Janis and Ana feel a bonding.   When Ana's mother visits the hospital, Janis is given an insight into the selfishness of Ana's mother and why Ana feels like a girl alone.

After the birth of the baby, Arturo is convinced he is not the father.  Janis is hurt as she slept with no one else, nevertheless she has a test done and the news is surprising, if not shocking.  Just as shocking is when she meets Ana again and learns of the fate of Ana's baby.  The relationship deepends between Janis and Ana. Then Arturo returns to commence the exhumation.

This beautiful film features the extraordinary richness in sound and image that we come to expect from Amodovar.  His stories are so good they would be enough, but the telling of the story is a feast for the eyes. Even the interiors of a modest apartment looks gorgeous.  Just as in  Julieta and Pain and Glory,  Amodovar has not let us down.