Let me tell you, I walked into Parallel Mothers expecting another of Pedro Almodóvar’s colourful meditations on motherhood – but trust me, I wasn’t prepared for just how deeply he’d needle into the very fabric of identity and grief. The film slipped past the surface and caught me right in the chest, in that way only a master can orchestrate.
The opening minutes seem deceptively gentle: two women, Janis (Penélope Cruz) and Ana (Milena Smit), meet in a maternity ward. Strangers sharing parallel circumstances – single, pregnant, scared yet hopeful – they strike up a tentative bond. But as their lives intertwine, secrets fester beneath the warmth, pulling them into a reckoning neither saw coming.
This isn’t merely a film about motherhood. It’s about memory – personal, historical, and inherited. Almodóvar threads Spain’s buried civil war traumas into the domestic drama with such grace that by the time the historical and emotional themes collide, it feels utterly inevitable... and utterly devastating.
Director’s Vision: Almodóvar at His Most Poignant
Pedro Almodóvar paints with emotion like few others in modern cinema. Here, he trades his trademark riotous colours for muted, autumnal tones, befitting the melancholia simmering beneath the story.
He directs with the assurance of someone who knows precisely when to hold back – and when to gut the audience with a single glance or silence. There’s a delicate gravity here that lingers long after the credits roll.
Performances: Penélope Cruz Deserves Every Ounce of Praise
Penélope Cruz, frankly, is a revelation. No wonder she clinched the Volpi Cup at Venice and an Oscar nomination for this role. Her Janis is so layered – fiercely independent, riddled with guilt, stubbornly loving – that you feel you know her by the end.
Milena Smit, meanwhile, holds her own beautifully, creating an Ana that is equally wounded and wide-eyed. Together, they generate a chemistry so authentic it borders on documentary at times.
Cinematography and Sound: A Masterclass in Mood
DP José Luis Alcaine captures interiors so rich you can almost smell the coffee brewing. There’s an intimacy to every frame, whether it’s a kitchen bathed in gentle light or a stark graveyard under a grey sky.
Alberto Iglesias’ Oscar-nominated score deserves special mention too: it’s haunting without being heavy-handed, a steady, aching presence just below the surface of every scene.
Audience Reactions: USA vs. UK
It’s fascinating how differently Parallel Mothers resonated across the pond.
In the UK, critics and audiences leaned heavily into the political threads, praising Almodóvar’s courage in addressing Spain’s historical wounds. The film’s release sparked lively post-screening debates at late-night cinema events and film festivals alike.
In the USA, however, reactions were more divided. Some embraced the emotional storytelling, but others found the political backdrop less accessible, focusing more on the motherhood drama and Penélope Cruz’s star turn.
Overall, UK audiences embraced the film’s layered tapestry more readily, treating it as a poignant social mirror as well as a personal story.
Final Verdict: A Stirring Ode to Memory and Motherhood
Parallel Mothers is not just a beautifully crafted film – it’s a reckoning, a whisper of past voices haunting the present. Almodóvar reminds us that while we live our ordinary lives, history’s unresolved wounds still breathe beneath our feet.
I left the cinema feeling like a thread had been pulled loose inside me – and I’m grateful for it
If you’re after a film that will sit with you, whisper to you days after you’ve seen it, don’t let Parallel Mothers slip by.
