Parallel Mothers (2021)

2h / R / Comedy, Drama

Two women meet in a hospital room where they are both soon to give birth. Both are single and became pregnant by accident. Janis (Penélope Cruz), in her middle age, doesn’t regret it and is exultant. Ana (Milena Smit), an adolescent, is scared, repentant and traumatized. The few words they exchange in these private hours create a profound link between the two, which by chance develops and grows complicated, and will come to change both of their lives forever.

Writer/director Pedro Almodóvar (All About My Mother, Volver) reunites with his muse Cruz in this twisting, convoluted-in-a-good-way family drama. This time, they tell a story that’s simultaneously personal and political, with all of Almodóvar’s characteristic tugging of heartstrings but none of his distancing irony or over-the-top humor. Parallel Mothers is an intimate tale of two women and their intertwined lives, but it’s also about Spain’s troubled history, and the way strong women are linked for generations through the past, even as they help each other forge a happier future.