Volver (2006)

Fabulous in every way; Pedro Almodovar as good as ever.

Incredible, moving and intriguing from the start. What a great movie!

Haven't seen it for a while but I loved it. Cruz is the whole package; feminist, funny, sad, crazy, and of course very sexy. Add in the amazing Aldomavar and an awesome script. A film about women that most men could learn a lot from.

Simply stunning movie. Penelope Cruz is wonderful and the character who is her sister who plays in the film, is marvelous as well. It's a pleasure to watch a well made movie.

dont like to have to read subtitle,

Boring

A slow moving film with an excellent performance by leading lady Penelope Cruz. Has a very authentic Spanish feeling to it. Would probably be more appreciated by the ladies. I enjoyed it.

Excellent movie! Almodovar quirky.

Excellent. All aspects of this movie come together to create an interesting, offbeat, quirky and at times emotional story. Penelope Cruize shines, but the other cast members are not overshadowed.

Wow!! Tight production of exquisite women moving through the difficulties of love, sex, mothers, daughters, grandaughters, neighbours, family and strong cultural mores, whilst connecting to the sisterhood throughout. This is a hard film to watch but in a good way. The males in this movie let these women down, however endearingly, the female spirit endures.

It was a bit difficult for me to understand at first as it wasnt in english, as I had trouble reading through the sentences but I finally got the drift of the movie and I did enjoy it.

I love Almodavar's alternative universe - I wish the real world was more like it; warm, caring and above all, quirky people who don't pass judgement on one another. Penelope Cruz is stunning - I can't take my eyes off her! Great film.

Emotionally satisfying in a way only Almodovar can achieve, this is a sensational performance from Penelope Cruz and the rest of a nearly all female cast. Almodovar has managed to give us a deeply moving and enriching ending without needing needing to pedantically tie off every idea in the movie, yet leaving nothing half done. Beware: the case says it is 188 minutes long which might be intimidating; it's actually only 110!

I thought that this was Penelope Cruz's best work by a fair stretch - including Vicki Christina Barcelona. A film that is very easy to watch with a nice flow and feel to it.

What a little gem! 'Nuff said.

It took me a while to work out how the characters were related to each other. It was also a bit difficult to concentrate on the movie because I was looking at the subtitles. The main themes are family and women. I liked the ending.

entertaining film. penelope should never have gone to hollywood. interesting characters and great story.

Reviews have lots of fors & against this art house movie. I agree subtitles are fast and there is a slow build up but........... worth the wait. I agree it's quirky, engaging, intriguing. A story of relationships between generations with a little twist half way through it. If you are a movie buff & want some light entertainment for a night try it, if you want fast action and are impatient don't bother. We recommend it.

Another great Spanish film, the acting, the language, the story is so vibrant (ok, maybe a little out there!) but that's part of the charm. I felt attached to all the characters and the story was enjoyable to watch as it unfolded.

Wow, it was an interesting movie. I loved hearing Penelope Cruz sing. She played a really good role. I am getting more into the foreign drama films. They are more realistic than the hollywood stuff. An interesting twist at the end and very fitting too. Well worth watching.

Raimunda arrives home one day to find her layabout husband lying on the kitchen floor dead. Paula, her teenage daughter, has stabbed him with a kitchen knife after he had made sexual advances. As Raimunda is cleaning up the blood, the door-bell rings. The owner of the restaurant next door calls to tell her he's selling up and leaving, and gives her the keys in case people want to look round. This gives her an idea to dispose of the body. She and Paula drag it out of the house and into the restaurant and put it in the deep freeze. Just as she is closing the lid, a guy from a film unit, shooting a movie nearby, walks in and wants lunch for 30 people. Her life as a restaurateur begins. Interwoven with this story is one concerning Raimunda's mother, Irene, who has been dead 4 years, and her senile sister, Paula, who has been looked after by Irene's spirit. Paula dies just at the time when Raimunda's husband is still lying on the kitchen floor, so she can't attend the funeral. But her sister Sole goes, and attends the wake, which is held in Irene's old house. She gets a glimpse of her mother's spirit when she goes looking for the bathroom. On arriving home afterwards, she finds her mother curled up in the boot of her car very much alive and, to avoid awkward questions, she becomes Sole's Russian-born assistant in her backroom hairdressing business. An implausible situation, but one that has to be accepted to stay with this movie. The cast, apart from one or two walk-ons, is entirely female. Some of the dialogue is so rapid, it's an effort to keep up with the subtitles. But Penelope Cruz is in great form, and with a little help to her posterior, is as bewitching as ever.

Like all of the films by Pedro - excellent!

Volver means to return, which is what I wanted to do with this movie about half way through. The filming of Penelope is totally seducing. She was stunning and the result was that I had to work extra hard to keep up with the subtitles. The story has some depth but runs out of time ands ends poorly.

Penelope Cruz suits this type of film. She is superb and as usual Almodovar serves up a quirky slant on life with out there characters

It takes a bit of time to work out how the characters are connected. You begin to wonder if the movie is a waste of time, but then it draws you in as you work out what's happening. In the end it's all fitted together so well that you realise you've seen a wonderful movie.

Obviously I missed something here as I'm outnumbered in the review department! Yes, Cruz gave a good performance, but apart from that this story was just rubbish - can't believe she was up for an Oscar!!!

Terrific. Beautiful Penelope Cruz and stunning (as always) Carmen Maura head a great cast. Beautifully crafted with a nice twist at the end. Loved it.

Enjoyable film, although I found the ending a bit limp.

A great sprawling melodrama only occasionally let down by being presented in the wrong aspect ratio – unless Almodóvar intentionally chose to compose his shots as two noses talking to each other at opposite ends of the screen that is. Even with the cropped frame the tiny, rapidfire subtitles are initially a bit distracting. Still don't know what a Volver is.

Fantastic film, loved it.

Another moving and funny female-centred movie from Almodovar. Great performances from Penelope Cruz and Carmen Maura. Story is ultimately about family and facing loss but is not intense or maudlin. Extra feature interview with Almodovar gives a good information on the village dynamics in La Mancha (where the movie is set and where he grew up) and this gives insight into the character's relationships and the film's narrative.

We gave it the 15 minutes and were just plain bored. I didnt realise it was dubbed through the entire movie. I can read quickly but when these women chatter amongst themselves, the amount of dialogue you need to read distracts entirely from what was going on on screen. After 15-20 minutes, nothing seemed to be happening and we had no idea what the story was so we gave up.

Classic Almodovar. Typical farce involving deceased relatives & family secrets. Shot in brilliant pastels. Cruz seems much more comfortable in these type of roles & Almodovar makes good use of her cleavage at important moments of the plot.