The title
Volver, translating as 'coming back', can be neatly read as both the return from the dead of Carmen Maura's mother character in this film, and also Almodóvar's own revisiting of the milieu of
What Have I Done to Deserve This?, 20 years earlier, which also starred Maura. There's plenty more overt linkage between the two: both centre around a ballsy but highly-strung mother striving to hold her family together; the setting of a nondescript working-class Madrid suburb is much the same, as is the overall tone which treads a fine line between the kitchen-sink dramatic, fantastical and blackly comic...and the abusive father of the family is killed unintentionally in a domestic row.
What makes
Volver superior to its predecessor, however, is Almodóvar's evident mastery of his box of tricks: the signature touches are all still there, including his continuing interest in female solidarity, but less garishly or haphazardly displayed, and the transitions from titters to pathos glide rather than jerk. It's also a revelation to finally see Penélope Cruz command the centre stage with such magnetism: upholstered on Almodóvar's instructions to evoke Anna Magnani or Sophia Loren in similarly strong earth-mother roles, she exudes determination, vanity and sensuality in equal measure.
7/10
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