Written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Starring Penelope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde
Rated R for some sexuality
Runtime: 2 hours, 3 minutes
Opening in Philadelphia January 15

by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring

Parallel Mothers is the kind of movie that rewards patience. Not because of anything from the viewing experience itself. It is not particularly slow or shocking in the way that it is told. The way the film’s storylines unfold, and the way that Almodóvar weaves his themes into the narrative didn’t land for me immediately when I saw this back in November. But by the time I finished my top 15 list for 2021, Parallel Mothers had climbed to fifth. As I noted in my write-up for that list, this was my first experience with Almodóvar, but I am looking forward to diving further into his work.

Reading the logline, about two mothers, Janis (Penelope Cruz) and Ana (Milena Smit), giving birth on the same day, it would be easy to mistake Parallel Mothers for something drawn out of a soap opera. However, the expansive and empathetic view that Almodóvar takes of these women’s stories pushes it far beyond whatever contrivances may be evident in the plotting. Rather, the story is very much concerned with motherhood, especially those families that lack a father. While Janis is a fiercely independent woman who makes a choice to have a baby without including the baby’s father in her life going forward, Ana’s situation involves much less in the way of self-determination, but she is still not without options.

The film opens with Janis attempting to have a commission unearth a mass grave site that lies in a field outside her hometown that dates back to the Spanish Civil War. The legacy of facism looms over the entire country. Do you know what your father, uncle, grandfather, great-grandfather did during the war? Was he rounded up and killed? Did he support Franco, out of fear or genuinely? Parallel Mothers dives into this history both as a society and as genetic. What is being passed onto the next generation. They need to learn their history, the good and the bad, in order to make a better future in spite of everything coming their way (climate change, mostly). Throughout, Almodóvar sanctifies motherhood. Not that all mothers are good ones, but the role of motherhood itself in a society, especially one where the men are likely to pass down the wrong lessons. While being a mother can often seem like a burden, and occasionally an impossible one, it is nevertheless an important one.

As the film goes on, Almodóvar buries these themes under a thick melodramatic layer that is nevertheless compelling. Much of this is carried by the stunning work of Penelope Cruz. She is the anchor for the story, and each of the joys and heartbreaks that Janis faces over the course of the story is perfectly expressed by her performance. While it is easy to imagine her feeling like an archetype on the page, she becomes fully realized by Cruz. Her entire career in American films seems to have created an impression that as an actress she is overshadowed by her own looks, but that is not at all an issue here. Parallel Mothers puts the actress and her beauty perfectly in sync, as Janis beguiles not only the viewer, but Ana as well. As the relationship between the two evolves and changes, it is easy to understand Ana’s multifaceted attraction to Janis. Milena Smit’s performance is equally important, as it allows Almodóvar to touch on class issues while still telling the story inside impeccably decorated Madrid apartments.

America has as many atrocities lying beneath our soil as Spain (if not more), and it is important to remember that even the most mundane aspects of our daily lives benefit from those structures as they echo forward in time. Parallel Mothers approaches this head on, and the relative recency of Franco may make it seem more urgent. But Almodóvar asks us to examine our roles in shaping the future, and sweeping the historical wrongs under the rug can only hinder progress. We need to come clean, even when it seems impossible.