{"id":16921,"date":"2022-12-22T17:56:41","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T22:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=16921"},"modified":"2025-09-06T18:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T22:06:08","slug":"parallel-mothers-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=16921","title":{"rendered":"Parallel Mothers-2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parallel Mothers-2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Pedro Almod\u00f3var<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Pen\u00e9lope Cruz, Milena Smit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #1,326<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed December 22, 2022<\/p>\n

Grade: A-<\/strong><\/p>\n

The terrific quality encircling Parallel Mothers (2021), Pedro Almod\u00f3var’s latest film, is a constant homage to Alfred Hitchcock.<\/p>\n

Not to imply that the cult favorite Spanish director needs to borrow at all because he’s got a flavor and color all his own, but he has fun adding some patterns of the influential director.<\/p>\n

Whenever I come across a compelling identity switcheroo or mistaken identity, I think of the director. Throw in a dose of subtle lesbianism to make things interesting, and you’ve got yourself an excellent film.<\/p>\n

I also noticed a bit of Brian DePalma’s influence in the dreamy scenes, but it’s primarily Hitchcockian as far as the suspense and plot twists are concerned.<\/p>\n

The setting is Madrid, Spain (more about that later), where two women, Janis (Pen\u00e9lope Cruz) and Ana (Milena Smit), meet in a hospital room where they are about to give birth.<\/p>\n

Both are single and became pregnant by accident, unsure of what, if any, future they will have with the fathers.<\/p>\n

Janis, middle-aged, is exultant to become a new mother, whereas Ana, an adolescent, is scared and traumatized. Janis’s encouragement creates a close bond between the two women, who were assumed to never see each other again after the birth of their babies.<\/p>\n

But a strange twist of fate brings the women back into each other’s lives, and their babies are at the heart of a complicated situation.<\/p>\n

I didn’t know exactly what to expect from Parallel Mothers, but I assumed that Cruz played a fortysomething woman who perhaps doesn’t want to give birth at her age.<\/p>\n

Cruz is excellent in the role of Janis, a confident woman who exudes warmth and stoicism. She is unfazed about her one-night stand and plans to live happily ever after with the baby daddy despite his wife, who has cancer.<\/p>\n

Janis is not delusional but knows what she wants and is determined to get it, embracing her situation and caring for others in her path instead of manipulating them.<\/p>\n

A strange situation arises with Ana and her baby, sending everything into a downward spiral.<\/p>\n

Cruz is a muse of Almod\u00f3var’s, appearing in many of his films like Volver (2006) and Pain and Glory (2019), and she is perfectly cast in this role. She is a mature woman, a feminist, and a role model while staying true to her family roots, which is how she meets the father of her child.<\/p>\n

Anyone who has been to Madrid or aspires to visit (like me!) will be treated to a history lesson free of charge. Plenty of location sequences of the city, restaurants, and street life are featured. As with Almod\u00f3var’s style, he incorporates vibrant colors, a rich aesthetic, and brilliant cinematography.<\/p>\n

The musical score enhances the series of events perfectly.<\/p>\n

A slight miss for me is the connection between the baby story and the other story, which is the disappearance of people during Spain’s wars. I didn’t fully grasp the critical Civil War story or understand its connection.<\/p>\n

Maybe it’s a cultural thing?<\/p>\n

The introduction and backstory of Ana’s mother, a well-known theater actress, felt jarring and out of place. I expected a stronger connection to the other events in the film, but it was lacking.<\/p>\n

Almod\u00f3var teeters more in the vein of drama than his usual witty comedies like 2013’s I’m So Excited, and the results are stimulating, especially with Cruz in the leading role.<\/p>\n

Parallel Mothers (2021) is a sizzling and titillating exploration of human sensation, eroticism, and emotion.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations:\u00a0<\/strong>Best Actress-Pen\u00e9lope Cruz, Best Original Score<\/p>\n

Independent Spirit Award Nominations:\u00a0<\/strong>Best International Film<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parallel Mothers-2021 Director Pedro Almod\u00f3var Starring Pen\u00e9lope Cruz, Milena Smit Scott’s Review #1,326 Reviewed December 22, 2022 Grade: A- The terrific quality encircling Parallel Mothers (2021), Pedro Almod\u00f3var’s latest film, is a constant homage to Alfred Hitchcock. Not to imply that the cult favorite Spanish director needs to borrow at all because he’s got a … Continue reading Parallel Mothers-2021<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[408,192,35,213,8161,8160,1502,4341,1503],"tags":[409,193,214,8163,8162,1504,4344,1505],"class_list":["post-16921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-movie-reviews","category-dramas","category-foreignfilms","category-foreign-dramas","category-israel-elejalde","category-milena-smit","category-pedro-almodovar","category-penelope-cruz","category-spanish","tag-2021-movie-reviews","tag-dramas-2","tag-foreign-dramas","tag-israel-elejalde","tag-milena-smit","tag-pedro-almodovar","tag-penelope-cruz","tag-spanish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16921"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22058,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16921\/revisions\/22058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}