CLASSIC CINEMA
Volver 15
Spain | 2006 121 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Pedro Almodóvar
STARRINGPenélope Cruz | Carmen Maura | Lola Dueñas
11 March 2026 WEDNESDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £10.25|£6.25 (under 26)
inclusive of fees
This is Pedro Almodóvar’s 17th feature film. His first was Folle, Folle, Folleme Tim! (1978) and his most recent release – his 24th feature - is The Room Next Door (2024), starring Tilda Swinton. Volver was released in 2006, so has reached its 20th anniversary. It was as successful in the USA as in Spain, and worldwide it has grossed some US$ 84 million.
Like the majority of his films, it is a dark comedy-drama with high production values, an eye-catching colour-palette, and is filled with an ensemble of actors – mainly female – drawn from what amounted to the Almodóvar repertory company. Actors appear and re-appear in his films – the ensemble gradually changing over time.
The main characters in Volver are six women, and they were jointly presented with the Best Actress award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Penélope Cruz, in her third Almodóvar (out of seven so far), plays Raimunda, a working-class woman living in Madrid with her husband Paco and teenage daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo). Raimunda’s sister, Sole, also living in Madrid, is played by Lola Dueñas in her second Almodóvar film (out of four so far). But the sisters were born and brought-up in the rural La Mancha region of Spain, south of Madrid, as was Almodóvar himself. They, together with Paula, return (volver means ‘to return’ in Spanish) to their home village to tend the grave of their parents, who died in a fire some years earlier. The village remains the home of the elderly Aunt Paula (played by Chus Lampreave, a real Almodóvar regular, with cameo parts in numerous of his films) and neighbour Agustina (Blanca Portillo in her first Almodóvar, out of two so far). The village and its environs are steeped in superstitions and ideas from a bygone age, so it is not entirely surprising that Raimunda’s and Sole’s mother should appear as a ghost, keen to resolve some important family issues. The mother is played by Carmen Maura, in her 8th Almodóvar, having featured in his first film back in 1978.
The film covers so many subjects during its two-hour run-time, and the story has plenty of twists and turns. Whether sad or uplifting, serious or amusing, it’s always engaging and is anchored by the performances of its six Best Actresses. IMDb almost runs out of categories for the film – it’s a drama and a comedy, a tragedy and a farce. So, make sure you see its return to the big screen in Cheltenham.