© Sony Pictures International
Has Pedro Almodovar really been making feature films for 42 years?
Si.
For five decades, the Spanish director has become one of Europe's most cherished filmmakers tackling weighty subjects such as the suppression of sexual identity, psychopathic behaviour, sexual abuse, Catholic Church oppression and misogyny.
But while he has addressed those issues, Almodovar has done that with great panache.
© Sony Pictures InternationalHis movies have been lauded for their vibrant, colourful imagery but they have also been striking because of their veneration of women and their empathy for people in the most challenging of situations.
Almodovar has shown a flair for the melodramatic like Douglas Sirk but he also has had a fascination with the grotesque like his fellow countryman Luis Bunuel.
He hasn't been afraid too to channel Alfred Hitchcock from time to time during a rarely dull, remarkably consistent career.
Over 42 years, the Calzada de Calatrava born filmmaker has notched up an impressive 22 features.
© Sony Pictures InternationalAnd it is encouraging to report that his 22nd feature, 'Parallel Mothers' is as vivacious and narratively ambitious as ever.
The film takes on two huge subjects over the course of its two hour running time and wraps them into a stylishly delivered story.
One concerns the Spanish Civil War.
The other is a tragic tale of baby swapping.
© Sony Pictures InternationalIn an Oscar nominated performance, Penelope Cruz plays Janis Martinez, a photographer working on a shoot for a magazine feature about Israel Elejalde's forensic archaeologist Arturo.
Hitting it off with Arturo during the photoshoot, Janis asks him if he would help her recover the remains of her great grandfather who was buried in a mass grave with comrades during the Spanish Civil War.
He agrees to his foundation taking on the case and a bond quickly develops, with Arturo and Janis becoming lovers.
Janis becomes pregnant.
© Sony Pictures InternationalThis being an Almodovar film, there are naturally complications.
Arturo is married with a wife who is receiving chemotherapy.
He tries to persuade Janis to have an abortion but she insists on going ahead with the pregnancy.
Janis gives birth to a baby girl, sharing a hospital room with Milena Smit's teenage mother Ana Manso Ferreira.
© Sony Pictures InternationalAna and Janis bond in the ward while their babies are both kept under observation.
Months after the birth, Arturo visits Janis and insists her baby Cecilia is not his.
Janis subsequently takes a DNA maternity test and is shocked to learn she isn't Cecilia's mother.
Not long afterwards, Janis runs into Ana who is working in a neighbourhood cafe and is crushed to learn that the younger woman's child has suffered a cot death.
© Sony Pictures InternationalAna tells her she has also fallen out with her actress mother, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon's Teresa who has abandoned her to take on a role in a touring theatre production.
Janis offers Ana a job as a live-in maid but she is also convinced their babies were accidentally swapped in the hospital when she sees a photo of the younger girl's child who was called Anita.
Wrestling with this secret, she is consumed by guilt as she and Ana become attracted to each other.
To further complicate matters, Arturo also reconnects with her and announces that he is preparing to leave his wife following her recovery from cancer.
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© Sony Pictures InternationalIncreasingly plagued by her guilt, Janis decides to takes a DNA swab of the younger woman and her baby daughter to be doubly sure that her suspicions are right.
When the results come back and confirm her worst fears, a number of questions beg.
How long will Janis keep the truth secret from Ana?
When will she be able to break the news to the younger woman?
How will her revelation go down?
© Sony Pictures InternationalHow will Arturo react?
Written and directed by Almodovar, 'Parallel Mothers' is an absorbing tale of buried secrets and uncomfortable truths.
In true Almodovar fashion, it plunges good people into morally complex and confusing situations.
The characters are typically flawed and do questionable things but no-one is villainous.
They are simply people who find themselves wrestling with difficult secrets and uncomfortable truths.
© Sony Pictures InternationalIt's not hard to see the parallels Almodovar is drawing between Janis' suppression of the truth and Spain's suppression of its own uncomfortable past.
In Almodovar's homeland, it is estimated around 114,000 people went missing during the reign of the fascist dictator General Franco.
But just as Janis has to confront the uncomfortable buried truth, the director argues so must Spain confront its past to enable closure.
Almodovar's film, particularly in its final moments, powerfully appeals to young people in Spain to address the country's history and the uncomfortable truth that there are many people from the Franco era whose remains in mass graves remain unearthed.
© Sony Pictures InternationalThat message will resonate too in other nations in South America, eastern and western European nations, African and Asian countries, even in Ireland where people have disappeared during bitter conflicts and secrets have remained about where they are buried.
Beautifully shot by Jose Luis Alcaine, Almodovar stitches his story together stylishly with the help of film editor Teresa Font.
Cruz, who always seems to be at her best when working with the director, also doesn't disappoint in a lead performance that is worthy of the awards season recognition it got.
It is a hugely sympathetic performance with Cruz impressively conveying the moral quandary that Janis finds herself in as the bond with Ana grows and her worst fears are confirmed.
© Sony Pictures InternationalSmit is a great foil for her as Ana, as is Elejalde as Arturo.
Almodovar stalwart Rossy de Palma turns up as a friend of Janis's Elena, while Sanchez-Gijon is very good value as Ana's mother Teresa.
With its melodramatic story of awkward secrets, 'Parallel Mothers' ambitiously sets about its story of love, loss, secrets and guilt.
Some may find the juxtaposition of maternal melodrama and political allegory clunky.
© Sony Pictures InternationalHowever that very much depends on how much you are willing to go along with Almodovar's sweeping melodramatic style.
And while 'Parallel Mothers' may lack the sheen of 'Pain and Glory,' it is a joy to watch nevertheless.
It really is worth investing your time, at least to revel in the performance of Penelope Cruz which is heartfelt, grounded and intelligent.
However it is so much more than Cruz's performance and finds Almodovar 42 years on in great shape as a filmmaker.
Long may that continue.
('Parallel Mothers' was released in the UK and Ireland on January 28, 2022)
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