It’s summer, the best time of the year. People love to flirt and give free space to their feelings. But what comes after that? Pedro Almodovar, Penelope Cruz, and Milena Smit show what happens when love, lust, and passion suddenly become responsibility in the sensitive melodrama Parallel Mothers (MADRES PARALELAS).
Unfortunately, far too often, films like Parallel Mothers are lost in turmoil at the box office. What a pity, as they offer so much depth and emotion.
PARALLEL MOTHERS ON BLU-RAY & DVD
Once again, Pedro Almodovar shows in Parallel Mothers a very complex story. It’s about more than the eye and mind can recognize in the very first moment.
The attractive photographer Janis Martinez (Penelope Cruz) meets and falls in love with forensic anthropologist Arturo (Israel Elejalde). After a hot affair, she promptly becomes pregnant. Janis is looking forward to the birth.
At the hospital, she shares a room with 17-year-old Ana. The young girl isn’t happy with her pregnancy. Not least because her mother, a successful artist, is focused on her career than on helping her daughter.
With a few words but a lot of empathy, the women encourage each other on their walks through the clinic’s corridors. Eventually, both have their babies, which is when the real drama begins.
With the drama of the two women, Pedro Almodovar draws an arc of suspense around another authentic story that goes back to the times of the Spanish Civil War. Especially at the end, you can feel that it was a concern of the gifted director to share this story with the world.
The brilliant interaction between Janis (Penelope Cruz) and Ana (Milena Smit) as well as the side story are a tribute to all women in the world. Almodovar skilfully combines completely different genres into a perfect whole.
In this way, and with enormous power, he keeps what is close to his heart alive. Besides, he makes it emotionally tangible for us viewers. Therefore, Parallel Mothers is not only emotional and entertaining but educational and enlightening.
Pedro Almodovar’s film is far from the blockbusters we usually report on. It’s one of those cinematic pearls that not only film fans should definitely have seen. That’s why Parallel Mothers on Blu-Ray and DVD is our home entertainment tip for the month of June.
Text: Marco Kokkot
Pictures: El Deseo / Studiocanal GmbH
