Although I’m a big fan of extravaganza in cinema, whether it involves a complicated, multi-layered story like Eyes wide shut or a brilliant camera working and technical indulgence like Munich, but I can’t hide my deep appreciation for anything brutally minimal yet widely expressive, like one of Hirschfeld's caricatures or Pedro Almodovar’s recent masterpiece, Volver. First of all, it is to me, his best movie so far. Although some might argue that but it is Penelope Cruz’s best performance to date and I don’t think there would be Any disagreement in that regard;
Volver, like most of previous works of Almodovar is visually enchanting and women, and particularly mothers, play a key role in it. But what is particular to this movie is the exaggerated depth of this central role and the fact that even a few men who exist in the plot are far from good! They are irritatingly nasty or in the best case, completely neutral and excessively useless! and although I don’t quite share his negative view towards men, but I can not possibly hide my deep appreciation for the fantastic image he portrays of women, which is nothing less than a cult-like worshiping ceremony.
In this movie, unlike most of the stereotype portrayal of women, they are seriously independent, impressively in control and totally capable of managing almost impossible situations when they have to. They don’t scream, they don’t freak out or runaway and most importantly, they are absolutely not those typical irrationally-emotional creatures we’ve been culturally trained to envisage them. In contrary, here, one can hardly stop noticing their capacity to suppress their emotions when they need to make a fast yet vital rational decision, very much like real women in the real life.
Another impressive aspect of the movie to me, was Almodovar’s brilliant success to reach the inner and deeper layers of female beauty.
Obviously, a woman has an outer layer of visual beauty which is not so hard to notice but there is a deeper layer which reveals itself as one gets more intimate. The first touch, the first kiss, the first sex, each of the steps opens up a whole dimension of beauty that later on, can be visualized even by the eyes, or in this case by the lens.
I have to admit that I’d never been attracted to Penelope Cruz nor I had ever found her sexy or charming, but during this movie and while Almodovar’s camera is literally making love to her by exploring her forbidden angles and her intimate gestures, it is almost impossible not to notice her exquisite beauty. I may say, he more or less has done to her, what Kubrick did to Nicole Kidman in eyes wide shut.
Apart from that, her stunning performance is not something that can be easily neglected. Also the fact that she speaks in her own language and not with her awkward Spanish accent makes her more attractive and gives her dramatically more self confidence to glow on the scene like never before.
Finally, this emotionally rich and genuinely touching movie, though sometimes too feministic for me, is something to be watched, enjoyed and adored, by all means. A true homage to femininity.
