Volver (2006/I)

Director:

Pedro Almodóvar

Writer:

Pedro Almodóvar

Release Date:

26 January 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

After her death, a mother returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life.

Plot Keywords:

Village | Return | Death | Fire | Car

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 52 wins & 53 nominations

Cast

Penélope Cruz	...	Raimunda
Carmen Maura	...	Irene
Lola Dueñas	...	Sole
Blanca Portillo	...	Agustina
Yohana Cobo	...	Paula
Chus Lampreave	...	Tía Paula
Antonio de la Torre	...	Paco
Carlos Blanco	...	Emilio
María Isabel Díaz	...	Regina (as Mª Isabel Díaz)
Neus Sanz	...	Inés
Leandro Rivera	...	Auxiliar Producción
Pepa Aniorte	...	Vecina
Yolanda Ramos	...	Presentadora TV
Elvira Cuadrupani	...	Vecina
María Alfonsa Rosso	...	Vecina (as Alfonsa Rosso)
Fanny de Castro	...	Vecina
Eli Iranzo	...	Vecina
Carlos García Cambero	...	Carlos
Magdalena Brotto	...	Vecina (as Magdalena Broto)
Isabel Ayúcar	...	Vecina
Concha Galán	...	Vecina
Mari Franç Torres	...	Vecina
Natalia Roig	...	Vecina
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pilar Castro	...	Ayudante de la presentadora (scenes deleted)
Mila Espiga	...	Vecina
Agustín Almodóvar	...	Empleado ferretería (uncredited)
Luis Lattanzi	...	Hungry second camera assistant (uncredited)
Valeria Vereau	...	Make-up artist (uncredited)

Directed by
Pedro Almodóvar

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Pedro Almodóvar

Produced by
Agustín Almodóvar	....	executive producer
Esther García	....	producer
Toni Novella	....	line producer

Original Music by
Alberto Iglesias

Cinematography by
José Luis Alcaine

Film Editing by
José Salcedo

Casting by
Luis San Narciso

Production Design by
Salvador Parra

Set Decoration by
Mara Matey

Costume Design by
Bina Daigeler

Makeup Department
Jessica Aguirre	....	trainee hair stylist
Jessica Aguirre	....	trainee makeup artist
Ana Caballero	....	assistant makeup artist
Massimo Gattabrusi	....	key hair stylist
Esther Gázquez	....	assistant hair stylist
Ana Lozano	....	makeup supervisor
Mariló Osuna	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Federico Rozadillas	....	assistant unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Rafael Carmona	....	first assistant director
Eva Sánchez	....	second assistant director
Mari Franç Torres	....	third assistant director
Elena Valverde	....	second assistant director
Bruno Velasco	....	trainee assistant director
Jacob Santana	....	third assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Alejandra Loiseau	....	construction manager

Sound Department
José Antonio Bermúdez	....	sound
Jaime Fernández-Cid Buscató	....	boom operator
Ruth Márquez	....	assistant boom operator
Jaime Puig	....	sound consultant: Dolby
Miguel Rejas	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Juan Alonso	....	digital compositor
Aníbal del Busto	....	digital compositor
Eduardo Díaz	....	visual effects supervisor
Sergio Garcia Abad	....	senior cgi artist
Guillermo Orbe	....	digital compositor
Ramón Ramos	....	digital compositor
Thorsten Rienth	....	digital compositor

Stunts
Ángel Plana	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Yolanda Cáceres	....	electrician
José Ramón Delgado	....	first assistant camera
Igor Iglesias	....	video assist
Francisco Izaguirre	....	lighting technician
Luis Lattanzi	....	second assistant camera
Joaquín Manchado	....	camera operator
Juan Pompas	....	electrician
José Manuel Reboul	....	electrician
Alberto Sánchez Beltrán	....	electrician

Casting Department
Ana Sainz-Trápaga	....	casting assistant
Patricia Álvarez de Miranda	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ana Cuerda	....	key costume assistant

Editorial Department
Noemí Dulau	....	assistant colorist: scanner
Noemí Dulau	....	digital intermediate colorist assistant
Kathy Thomson	....	digital colorist

Music Department
Isobel Griffiths	....	orchestra contractor

Other crew
Patricia Alcolea	....	production assistant
Yuyi Beringola	....	continuity
Sergio Díaz	....	location manager
Verónica Díaz	....	production coordinator
Juan Gatti	....	credits
Lara Isabel Gómez	....	making-of cameraman
Marina H. Molini	....	production apprentice
Liliana Niespial	....	international relations assistant
Deborah Palomo	....	publicist
Juan Varela	....	personal assistant to director

Thanks
Núria Moreno	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Canal+ España (participation)
• El Deseo S.A.
• Ministerio de Cultura (participation)
• Televisión Española (TVE) (participation)

Distributors

• 20th Century Fox de Argentina (2006) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• A-Film Distribution (2006) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Applause Entertainment (2006) (Taiwan) (theatrical)
• Chantier Films (2006) (Turkey) (theatrical)
• GAGA (2007) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Hollywood Classic Entertainment (2006) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (2006) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Monopole-Pathé (2006) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Paradise Films (2006) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Pathé Distribution (2006) (UK) (theatrical)
• Pathé (2006) (France) (theatrical)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2006) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Shaw Organisation (2007) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2006) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• TOBIS Film (2006) (Germany) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (200?) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Canvas (2009) (Belgium) (TV)
• GAGA (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2007) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2007) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Nederlandse Programma Stichting (NPS) (2010) (Netherlands) (TV)
• Odeon (2006) (Greece) (all media)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Universum Film (UFA) (2007) (Germany) (DVD)

Special Effects

• El Ranchito (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Cinesol  generators provided by
• E.P.I.C.  camera equipment provided by
• London Session Orchestra, The  orchestra (uncredited)
• Rafael Catering  catering

Also Known As:

"To Return" - USA (literal English title)
"Att återvända" - Sweden
"Dönüs" - Turkey (Turkish title)
"Gyrna piso" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Voltar" - Portugal
"Volver" - France
"Volver" - Hungary
"Volver - Paluu" - Finland (imdb display title)
"Volver - Zurückkehren" - Germany (TV title)
"Vracam se" - Croatia

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexual content and language

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Italy:VM14 | UK:15 | Argentina:16 | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:AL | Hong Kong:IIA | Sweden:11 | Spain:13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Australia:M | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Peru:14 | Brazil:14 | Chile:TE

Filming Locations:

Almagro, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Company:

Canal+ España

Trivia:

Penélope Cruz became the first Spanish actress ever to be nominated for Best Lead Actress at the Oscars.

Quotes:

Irene:Don't say that, Raimunda, or I'll start crying. And ghosts don't cry.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Muchachada nui: Episode #4.13" (2010)

Soundtrack:

Volver

Wonderful, warm and touching!

Rare are the movies who celebrate everything that life offers. Joy and despair, love and hate, living and dying, strength and weakness, good and bad. While many movies reduce life to either good or bad, painting a very simple picture of human relationships, Almodovars movies display a wide range of emotions, where a person is a Saint and a Whore, where people laugh and cry at the same time, achieving a sense of truth that other movies seldom touch.

An everlasting wind soughs around a small village in La Mancha and the cemetery, where women are cleaning the graves of their dear ones, fighting the winds destruction of their work. This opening scene already sets the tone of the rest of the movie. There are few scenes with men present, the most prominent dies within the first half hour of the movie. In Almodovars universe the women take care of everything, they are hardworking, caring, difficult and solidarity, sharing their intimate moments with each other.

As usual there are plenty of weird, funny and tragic moments in this story (which makes it almost impossible to give a summary of the incidents). The Return from the title is true in many respects, like in all his movies it has multiple meanings. But unlike his early efforts the story here is less over the top, rings truer and is leaving a big emotional impact on you. It's impossible not to be touched by this film.

As always he assembles plenty of highly talented actresses. The biggest surprise here is Penelope Cruz, who finally fulfills the promise she displayed already in "All about my mother". While her performances in American movies were often rather bleak, here she's a force of nature, strong, full of endless energy, a wide range of emotions constantly on her face. This doesn't mean, that any of the other actresses stand back. They are so perfectly cast that it's easy to see why they were all given an acting award at Cannes.