Mill Valley Film Festival 44

Spain's most prolific and influential filmmaker, Pedro Almodóvar, surprises us once again with this contemporary melodrama about two women, Janis (Penélope Cruz) and Ana (Milena Smit), whose lives intersect profoundly thanks to a casual encounter in a hospital where they’re both going into labor. Janis, the older of the two, has no regrets and is delighted with the idea of motherhood. But young Ana is regretful and scared. As they walk through the hospital corridor, waiting for their respective new arrivals, just a few words exchanged between them will complicate the women’s lives forever. Almodóvar expands on earlier representations of femininity, turning the film’s focus to the many complicated facets of motherhood. A unique offering, Parallel Mothers sits well within the director’s gallery of great films with a bold color palette and dramatic performances that border on comic, yet stands memorably on its own.