Volver (2006) on Netflix
Raimunda, her sister Sole and her daughter Paula travel from Madrid to Alcanfor de las Infantas to visit the grave of Raimunda's mother Irene. Their aunt Paula insists that Irene is alive.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.6/10113,736 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
Raimunda lives in Madrid with her daughter Paula and her husband Paco. Her sister Sole lives in the city too. The two women take Paula to Alcanfor de las Infantas, the village in La Mancha where the sisters grew up, to look after the gravesite of their mother and father, who died in a fire. There they call on their aunt Paula, elderly and dementia-impaired, who raised Raimunda, and on Agustina, the neighbor who looks in on the aunt every day. Aunt Paula says Irene, the sisters' mother, is alive and living with her.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Volver (2006)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Carmen Maura, who starred in Almodóvar's debut Pepi, Luci, Bom and five more of his films, was the first to be cast in Volver alongside Penélope Cruz, ending a reported 18-year rift that began with a fallout on Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
- Penélope Cruz prepared for the role of Raimunda by watching 1950s Italian neorealism films starring Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale, the "Italian maggiorate" Almodóvar had in mind, and had to wear a prosthetic bottom while filming.
- Penélope Cruz's Best Actress nomination at the 2006 Academy Awards made her the first Spanish woman ever nominated in that category.
- Volver grew out of a story the actress Marisa Paredes told Pedro Almodóvar while they were making The Flower of My Secret in 1995: a heartbroken Puerto Rican man plans to kill his mother-in-law at her funeral, hoping to win back the wife who left him.
- At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival Volver won Best Screenplay and the Best Actress award, which was shared by the film's six stars.
- Carlos Gardel's tango "Volver", with lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera, was turned into flamenco for the film, sung by Estrella Morente and lip-synced by Penélope Cruz.
