Parrallel Mothers: juggling comedy and drama

Parrallel Mothers: Juggling Comedy and Drama

Opening at the Showroom this Friday is Parallel Mothers, the latest film from acclaimed Spanish writer-director Pedro Almodóvar. Joining forces for the seventh time with actress Penelope Cruz, Almodóvar tells the story of two women who form a strong bond as they confront motherhood in very different ways. Both women are single and pregnant by accident; Janis (Cruz) and Ana (Milena Smit) walk the hospital corridors, developing a close connection which grows and complicates, changing their lives forever.

The film’s premise reads like a melodrama – two women giving birth in hospital at the same time – and Parallel Mothers leans into the heightened emotion seen in the classic Hollywood films of Douglas Sirk. But, in Almodóvar’s hands, the well-worn trope of the “woman’s picture” is radically and playfully updated. Using lush colours and bold cinematography, his take on the joys and burdens of motherhood become something altogether richer, deeper, and very moving.

Parallel Mothers is an excellent combination of Almodóvar’s greatest traits as a filmmaker. It has the rich, visual flare of his earlier, often lighter films while maintaining the restraint and delicate touch of his more recent work. It is both a twisty comedy full of drama and revelations and a serious, emotionally grounded exploration of maternal bonds and family. Much like Maggie Gyllenhaal’s recent The Lost Daughter, which featured a brilliant turn from Olivia Colman, Parallel Mothers is a wonderful showcase for the team of Almodóvar and Penelope Cruz.

Thematically, Parallel Mothers follows familiar subjects to the rest of Almodóvar’s films; particularly the emphasis on women, their relationships, and subversions of traditional family configurations. Men, especially fathers, rarely have much of a presence. Of course, Almodóvar is the most well-known Spanish filmmaker of the post-Franco period. His work can be seen as a celebration of identity, desire and freedom in a new Spain. That said, the past is never forgotten. In a deftly told subplot, Parallel Mothers also touches upon the heavy weight of the Spanish Civil War, explored through a woman’s relationship to her grandfather and other villagers. It is a powerful part of the film’s story which emphasises the strength and solidarity of the women at its heart, who find unity through the memory of their ancestors.

In Parallel Mothers Almodóvar expertly juggles comedy and drama in a delightfully moving tale, aided by career-best performance from Cruz.

Parallel Mothers opens at the Showroom on Friday, January 28. Tickets are on sale now.

This article first featured in the Sheffield Telegraph on Thursday 27 January 2022