Review: Parallel Mothers

Two unmarried women (Penelope Cruz, Milena Smit) are about to give birth in the same hospital and form a bond despite a fairly significant age difference. Some time after the birth, photographer Cruz feels something is up with her new baby. She just can’t help shake this uneasy feeling, especially since the baby looks neither like her nor the father (Israel Elejalde). So she arranges a covert DNA test and learns something most extraordinary and heartbreaking. Almodovar regular Rossy De Palma plays Cruz’s best friend.

 

Along with Jesus Franco and Hong Kong Cat III films, Pedro Almodovar (“Tie Me Up!, Tie Me Down!”, “Dark Habits”) was my very strange and kinky introduction to foreign-language cinema as a teenager, and the only one of the three with any kind of critical credibility. The former ‘Spanish bad boy’ and now critical darling has had a very eclectic career. I loved “The Skin I Live In”, and the likes of “All About My Mother” and “Talk to Her” were solid too, even if some might lament that the latter two were not nearly as naughty as his earlier work. His films overall for me have been wildly erratic, but with the exception of “Pepi, Luci, and Bom”, I certainly don’t think you could claim that his films are dull, whatever else you make of them. This 2021 drama from the writer-director is not one of his better nor more memorable efforts. An uneven mixture of soap opera and issues related to Spanish Civil War history, I think Spaniards might take to this one more enthusiastically than I certainly did.

 

I found it a bit underwhelming, and the first and final ten minutes are choppy and quite unsatisfying. In particular the ending is a complete head-scratcher. I don’t think the Spanish Civil War stuff is given enough emphasis in the plot to warrant this particular ending while the relationships end on a rather murky note too. It also seems that the naughty Almodovar of old has vanished here, an early sex scene seems chaste and mainstream, as it features no nudity and barely even any sex. Same thing later with a sapphic love scene that actually starts out hot but doesn’t go far enough nor is there any nudity at all. “Tie Me Up!, Tie Me Down!” really is a lifetime ago it seems. With most other filmmakers I wouldn’t make a point of it because it’s hardly essential, but if you’re Almodovar and you’re putting that sort of material in there…man, you gotta go all the way with it surely. To be honest, as cute and ripe with potential as the initial concept is, I don’t think there’s ultimately a whole heck of a lot here. It’s well-acted, but in terms of plot and character, there’s not much new here.

 

A cute idea that isn’t taken anywhere terribly interesting. It looks very colourful as you’d expect from Almodovar, but I was ultimately a bit underwhelmed by the experience. OK, but nothing more.

 

Rating: C+