Penelope Cruz gives a complicated, peerless performance in Pedro Almodovar’s Volver – and she looks like a classic screen goddess doing it. Cruz plays Raimunda, a working-class wife and mother in Madrid who gets caught up in a murder plot. I can’t say more – the movie operates on a series of startling revelations – except that the plot thickens when Raimunda and her sister encounter their mother’s ghost, who in turn unveils all sorts of family secrets. Much has been made of Almodovar’s feel for the lives of women, and Volver certainly captures the delicate dynamics at play between sisters and mothers and daughters. Yet this is no mere domestic drama. When Raimunda’s mother appears, it elevates the movie to an inspiring spiritual realm. By the finale, it’s as if the picture has found a way to conquer death.
