By Syed Zaid Ali Syed Mudzhar
Much has been said about Almodóvar’s mastery of melodrama, but his most recent feature didn’t quite work for me.
I’ve been in the process of slowly going through some of his greatest hits. After having seen Pain and Glory following the amount of buzz Antonio Banderas managed to garner for his performance, I knew I’d been missing out on a lot. Watching The Skin I Live In, Bad Education and All About My Mother soon after seems to have only reaffirmed this belief – so I knew I had to catch Parallel Mothers as soon as I could.
A quick glance at the title suggests interesting contrasts. Sure enough, this is seen immediately through the titular mothers meeting at the hospital, with the two of them pregnant. Their feelings towards their pregnancies contrast greatly, with the middle-aged Janis’ (Penélope Cruz) joy juxtaposed against the young Ana’s (Milena Smit) fear. They promise to keep in touch, and the moments in the film’s following years where they share the joys of caring for their daughters are themselves odes to motherhood.
The film tries to form an overarching connection between motherhood and Spain’s recent history, which should suggest some interest. The film is let down, however, by a rather clichéd twist and an anticlimactic reveal, but is it possible to criticise a Almodóvar film for being “too soapy”? The dramatic irony doesn’t keep you guessing, because you know how the main plotline is going to end up. As such, I wasn’t invested too much in the characters and their relationships. Pain and Glory makes use of a much more interesting twist which forces us to re-contextualise its flashback sequences. Parallel Mothers tries to do a similar thing with one of its reveals involving Ana overhearing her mother, though this ultimately doesn’t impact the story in a meaningful manner. The two leads also have a falling out towards the end, which is somewhat quickly resolved without much explanation – there is a lot more to be said about the story, but I’m not sure people take very kindly to spoilers.
Many have praised the leads’ performances, with many calling Cruz’s to be her career-best, while Smit has also received praise for her brilliant turn as Ana – some even calling her a new chica Almodóvar (Almodóvar girl). Despite this, the weak material they had to work with didn’t give me much reason to pay attention to the acting – in fact, I didn’t consider many aspects of the film once they started to turn up the melodrama.
However, one subplot did keep me engaged; that of the archaeological excavation and the film’s exploration of the aftermath of Franco’s rule. In fact, this is what sets the events of the film in motion – after doing a photoshoot with forensic archaeologist Arturo (Israel Elejalde), photographer Janis asks if he could help disinter the remains of her great-grandfather, who was killed then buried in a mass grave alongside other men from the village she grew up in. The two sleep together, which results in Janis’ pregnancy. This part of the story, however, is mostly kept on the backburner for most of the film. It really only progresses towards the finale, and ends up feeling rushed. Granted, it mostly serves to accompany the main plotline with the two mothers through its thematic connections of relating the past and the present; history and intergenerational trauma; but the end product here feels underbaked as a result.
I’m sure there’s a lot more to be said about how the film talks about Spain’s past, present and future, but honestly I wish that I cared more about the story to really think about it. Many others seem to like it, and it’s Almodóvar, so you’ll probably end up liking it anyway.
This boy from Malaysia never thought he’d ever write for the School’s newspaper, but here he is now. Call me Syed. I mainly write about film and television, though I might throw in an article or two about the bands I’m listening to, or video games I find interesting. I’m also a fan of T. S. Eliot’s poetry and pieces by Chopin. You can find me on Instagram at @zaid.exe but feel free to send an email to s.z.bin-syed-mudzhar@lse.ac.uk if you’re feeling all formal.
