Parallel Mothers
Dir: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde
Rating: 3/5

Pedro Almodovar uses his customary flair to set up two unwed mothers as counterpoints as they give birth on the same day - in a voyage of bonding that takes them way beyond the seemingly obvious, deeper into a horrific anthropological past. The Oscar-winning writer-director has been surprising us for the past 35 years with his varied subjects, melodramatic in-depth study of gender and the human condition with an irreverently humorous, sometimes serious, vibrant, colorful, bold, glossy, complex dramatics. Following close on the heels of double Palme d'Or winner and Oscar nominee for best International feature, his semi-autobiographical masterpiece, PAIN AND GLORY (2019), Parallel Mothers pales a little in comparison though.

Janis( Penelope Cruz), a woman pushing 40 gets pregnant from a fling with married Arturo (Israel Elejalde), a forensic archaeologist working on the project to excavate a mass grave from the Spanish Civil War rumored to hold the remains of relatives of Janis, as well as others from the community. At the maternity home, we are introduced to her roommate Ana (a wonderful Milena Smit), a 17-year-old, who is not so thrilled at the thought of becoming a mother. Janis has her lifelong friend Elena (Rossy de Palma) for support while narcissist wannabe-famous actress Teresa (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), Ana’s mother, does the same for Ana. The two women give birth on the same day and their lives get intertwined in surprising ways.