New Almodóvar film goes in wider release in U.S. today

Could a Spanish-language film be named the Best Picture of 2006 when the Oscars are announced next year? Could the Best Actress award be awarded for a Spanish-speaking role? Neither has happened before, but they're both possibilities.

The film getting all the critical acclaim is Pedro Almodóvar's Volver, which goes into wider release today after opening Nov. 3 in Los Angeles and New York. It's not exactly a wide release yet — it's opening primarily in major cities such as Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco and Denver and select suburbs such as Palo Alto, Calif. A wider opening still is planned for January. Partly because of the film's star power, the film has the potential of becoming the most popular film from Spain ever to show in the U.S.

The potential Best Actress nominee — many reviewers say it's likely — is Penélope Cruz, a native of Madrid. Cruz is perhaps best known in the United States for her co-starring role with Tom Cruise in 2001's Vanilla Sky, a remake of the 1997 Spanish-language film Abre los ojos, in which she also co-starred. But Cruz is also well-known in the U.S. among art-film aficionados for roles in films such as Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Woman on Top, Todo sobre mi madre and Belle epoque.

Volver (the word is the Spanish verb for "to return" and is pronounced very roughly like bohl-BEHR) tells the story of three generations of women, Raimunda (Cruz), who is married to an unemployed laborer; her daughter, Paula (Yohana Cobo); and Raimunda's sister, Sole (Lola Dueñas), a beautician. The film has been described as a comedy about death — which doesn't sound like an unusual project for Almodóvar, although this film has been described as one of the most accessible Almodóvar films for general audience and doesn't have the strong sexual content that is common in his movies.

Want to know more about this film? Be sure to check out these resources:

Official site:

• Volver: Un film de Almodóvar (official site, in Spanish, English and French)
• Volver: A film by Almdóvar (official U.S. site, with trailer on home page)

From About:

• Review by World Film Guide Marcy Dermansky
• Volver (from Hollywood Films Guide Rebecca Murray)

Reviews (in English and Spanish):

• BoxOffice.com
• La Coctelera
• European-films.net
• NewsDay
• New York Times
• Ochoymedia
• Radio 2
• Semana.com
• TIFF

Related pages on this site:

• La mala educación opens in U.S.
• Top 10 Spanish-language movies
• Todo sobre mi madre review

And a word about grammar:

• Conjugation of volver

Movie poster image copyright Sony Classics Films 2006