In Volver, Almodóvar’s Women Carry a Family Crisis Into the Afterlife

Volver is a strange and beautiful mess. Pedro Almodóvar’s 2006 comedy-drama follows three generations of women dealing with family secrets while surviving the east wind, fire, insanity, superstition, lies and even death. It’s a film about grief, memory and the stubbornness of the past, wrapped in a supernatural plot that never quite explains itself. The result is a movie that feels both heavy and light, and it mostly earns its reputation as one of Almodóvar’s best.

Trailer, via Sony Pictures Classics.

Raimunda and Paula

Penélope Cruz plays Raimunda, a working-class woman living in Madrid with her husband Paco and her 14-year-old daughter Paula. The film opens with Raimunda, her sister Sole and Paula returning to the small village of Alcanfor de las Infantas in La Mancha, where the family grew up. They’re there to tend to the graves of their parents, who died in a fire years earlier, and to check on their ailing aunt Paula, who suffers from dementia.

The central crisis hits fast. When Paco tries to rape Paula, claiming he isn’t really her father, Paula stabs him to death in self-defense. Raimunda covers up the crime by hiding the body in the freezer of a shuttered restaurant she watches for the absent owner, Emilio. She then strikes a deal with a film crew catering at the restaurant, earning money to keep the family afloat.

The Ghost Returns

The film’s biggest twist arrives at Aunt Paula’s wake. Agustina, the neighbor who checks on the aunt daily, tells Sole that she overheard Paula talking to the ghost of their mother, Irene. When Sole returns to Madrid, she finds Irene stashed in the trunk of her car. The ghost stays with Sole, helping run her illegal hair salon out of her apartment while posing as a Russian immigrant who doesn’t speak Spanish.

Raimunda learns the truth about Paula’s father, promising to explain everything later. She leaves Paula with Sole and turns to two paid helpers to keep the cover intact. The setup is classic Almodóvar: a family crisis, a dead body, a hidden secret, and a ghost nobody can explain.

Irene’s Return

Carmen Maura plays Irene, and her casting is a significant draw. Maura was Almodóvar’s debut star in Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980) and appeared in five of his films before this one. Her return after an 18-year gap followed a reported fallout during the making of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1989). Maura described Irene as a “borderline character,” calling the role “very complicated.”

Irene’s presence drives much of the film’s emotional weight. She is a woman who has returned from the dead, and she wants closure. The family avoids her, especially Raimunda, who despises her mother. The tension between the living and the dead forms the film’s spine, and Maura’s performance anchors it.

The Ensemble Cast

The supporting cast is strong across the board. Lola Dueñas plays Sole, Blanca Portillo plays Agustina, Yohana Cobo plays Paula, and Chus Lampreave plays Aunt Paula. The film’s award at Cannes went to the six main actresses, shared between Cruz, Maura, Dueñas, Portillo, Cobo and Lampreave.

Almodóvar drew inspiration from Italian neorealism, pointing to directors like Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Pier Paolo Pasolini. The film mixes farce, tragedy, melodrama and magic realism, and it mostly lands. The tone shifts constantly, from dark humor to genuine grief, and the cast holds it together.

Setting and Influence

Volver takes place in Alcanfor de las Infantas, a small village in the La Mancha region, which is Almodóvar’s hometown. He cites his upbringing as a major influence on the plot and the characters. The setting is wind-swept and rural, and the film captures the particular rhythms of Spanish village life.

The plot originates in Almodóvar’s earlier film The Flower of My Secret (1995), where it appears as a rejected novel that becomes the screenplay for a film called The Freezer. That connection adds depth to the story, though it isn’t explained within the film itself.

Performance Highlights

Cruz delivers a career-best performance as Raimunda. She wore a prosthetic bottom during filming, and she called the role “the best gift an actress can get.” Maura’s Irene is equally strong, a woman who is both terrifying and heartbreaking. The two leads carry the film’s emotional core.

Dueñas and Portillo round out the main trio. Dueñas plays Sole with a quiet strength, and Portillo brings warmth to Agustina. Cobo is excellent as Paula, a teenager caught between a violent household and a supernatural mystery. Lampreave grounds the film as Aunt Paula, a woman slipping into dementia.

Technical Craft

The film’s technical craft is solid. The cinematography captures the harsh beauty of the La Mancha landscape, and the editing keeps the shifting tones from feeling jarring. The score, composed by Alberto Iglesias, complements the drama without overpowering it.

Where It Falls Short

Not everything works. The ghost storyline is never fully explained, and some of the supernatural elements feel tacked on rather than integrated. The film also runs long at 121 minutes, and a tighter edit would have sharpened the pacing.

Ranking the Main Characters

1. Penélope Cruz as Raimunda — the emotional center and the best performance in the film.
2. Carmen Maura as Irene — the most complex character, played with skill.
3. Lola Dueñas as Sole — steady and reliable.
4. Blanca Portillo as Agustina — warm and grounded.
5. Yohana Cobo as Paula — young and compelling.
6. Chus Lampreave as Aunt Paula — the film’s tragic figure.

Final Verdict

Volver is a flawed masterpiece. It’s a film about women holding families together through grief, violence and supernatural interference, and it handles all of it with a mix of humor and dread. The performances are uniformly excellent, and the ensemble cast makes the sprawling plot feel intimate.

The ghost storyline doesn’t quite land, and the runtime drags in places, but the emotional payoff is real. This is a film that respects its audience enough to leave some questions unanswered, and that respect shows.

Score: 8.4/10.

Carmen Maura · movie review · Pedro Almodóvar · Penélope Cruz · Spanish cinema