Introduction
Volver is a continuation of “ Talk to Her ”, “ Bad Education” and “ All About My Mother” . It explores the impossibility of men and women being united and romanticizes females who unconditionally support each other to fight men who take away their dignity. It is a story of generational experiences of women who are sexually abused and deaths of the perpetrators. It also presents the transition from rural life to urban life in Spanish society.
Castilla Life Compared to the US
The film begins in La Mancha region, in the small town of Castilla (Alcan for de las Infantas). People here lead conservative, backward and superstitious lives. In the village there are ghosts; (when Irene reappears, it is not a surprise), religion is highly valued; there are deep secrets and a cult of the dead. The village also houses the supernatural. Life in the village does not favor men. The women in the film are strong characters who live for years. No strong female character dies in the movie except Augustina’s mother. Husbands, on the other hand, are insatiable sexually and end up raping their daughters. The village life is all about culture.
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Parallels can be drawn between the Spanish Village life and the US village life. Those who live in villages are more conservative and rely heavily on religion. It is easier to get away with murder in a city than in a village. Raimunda and her daughter can get away with the same in Madrid. This is relatable to many unpunished criminals in the US cities compared to villages. Thus, Castilla life mirrors US village life.
Is Raimunda a Criminal?
Raimunda is not a criminal in my view. She could not repeat her mother’s mistake. She had obsolete hatred for her father who raped her, impregnated her and she felt rage toward the mother who did ‘not notice’ all this and ended up chasing her. Her inability to handle her masturbating husband and his sexual inappropriateness towards Paula is what pushes her to put her husband’s corpse in a freezer. She has to protect her daughter at all cost.
Paco (Antonio de la Torre) initiated his death. Paula (Yohana Cobo) stabbed him in her efforts to defend herself against the preying ‘father’. Should we say that everything is fair in war and love, do we lay it all on Raimunda’s feet? Evil should be shunned at all cost. Raimunda was not wrong to protect her daughter. She had it in her mind that it was her daughter and not Paco’s daughter. This is the extent I can go to protect my own against molestation.
Irene: Character and Role
Irene moves away from reality, but she does not succeed. She paints a picture of an ideal marriage life where they live together and die together. Irene chases Raimunda away after she is molested by her father to keep this reality repressed; setting eyes on Raimunda will remind her of the act, something she is fighting to get over. Raimunda and Sole have been made to believe that their parents died together in a house fire, only to realize that the mother did not die. The father was a child molester and a rapist. She thus does not run away from reality.
Matriarchy is emphasized through Irene. Irene exists in a dissociated state whereby she is both dead and alive. It is only in this state that she cannot notice her daughter being abused. This way, Irene lives a lie. Almodóvar through Irene’s return is commenting that a mother holds the family and a nation at large together. Irene returns to a torn society where men act out of lust; a rapist father. Her reconciliation with Raimunda is an indication that a man is an enemy of unity and progress. When the man dies, everything flows with no grudges among women. Killing the husband and his lover is an indication that Irene is ready to fight any obstacle that comes her way to take her peace. She reunites her family. She tells Sole that she should not feel lonely because she is single. This is to say that she can fill the romantic void as a mother. Matriarchy is thus emphasized through Irene.
Conclusion
All in all, Volver has captured the Spanish Culture, women’s determination to fight for their fellow women and the power of women in bringing unity in the family and nation at large. Matriarchy, as opposed to the patriarchy, has been explored and how it can be used to shun evil.
