Pedro Almodovar returns to women, a subject he loves, in his latest movie, “Volver,” starring Penelope Cruz.
“‘Volver’ is a film of actresses,” Almodovar, 56, told reporters after a screening Monday of his tale of troubled relationships among three generations of women.
Cruz’s mother, played by veteran Spanish actress Carmen Maura, comes back from the dead to resolve outstanding issues with Raimunda, the beautiful and feisty character played by Cruz.
The reunion takes place after Cruz and her teenage daughter travel from Madrid to their old village in La Mancha, the arid, conservative region of central Spain where Almodovar grew up in the ’50s and ’60s.
Almodovar described Cruz’s character as a “Sophia Loren type of housewife, wearing low-cut clothes, full of life and courage.”
“Volver” opens in Spain on Friday and in the United States in June.
“This is a gift from heaven,” said Cruz, who has appeared in other Almodovar films. “I will be grateful to Pedro for the rest of my life.”
Almodovar is often described as a women’s director because many of his movies have revolved around strong, sympathetic female characters — a demographic sector he has described as “more amusing and luminous” than men.
He made an international splash with “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” in 1988. “All About My Mother” won the Oscar for best foreign film in 2000 and “Talk to Her” won the Oscar for best original screenplay in 2003.
“Volver” is rich in imagery from La Mancha, depicting its whitewashed villages and traditions that are fading away. The film starts with a shot of women cleaning the tombs of their loved ones at a cemetery.
“I hardly ever go back because there I don’t return as an acclaimed director, but rather as a little boy,” Almodovar said. “There, I still feel like a little boy.”
Apart from the female psyche, Almodovar’s plots are full of improbabilities, unexpected twists and an outlandish assortment of characters — gays, transvestites, bullfighters and prostitutes.
He addresses other pet obsessions in his new film, such as death, women’s loneliness and maternity. He said he wants to tackle them artistically to understand himself better.
“I don’t make movies to sort out my problems, but to shake up my own life,” he said.