#raimunda icons

[editfandom]

Raimunda - Volver, 2006

[jniejadlik]

Film Analysis: Volver (2006) written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar

Written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, the film Volver offers viewers a journey that initially seems mysterious and unsettling. When the film finally reaches its climax and story-line resolution, the colors, symbols, and film perspectives Almodóvar purposefully selected come together in a jarring moment of clarity.

From the start of the film, Almodóvar sets the audience up with themes that continue to be woven through until the end. He is able to do this immediately by his use of the color red as soon as opening credits roll. Through Almodóvar’s subjective use of the color red, he is able to set the tone and mood for what’s to come.

The color red continues to be used in a very noticeable way and helps create a mood and support the dynamics this film explores: love vs. hate, life vs. death, and all those passions in between.

From a gestalt perspective, the opening shots offer a general picture as to what is going on. A group of women, in a cemetery, cleaning headstones, while a strong wind blows is the first thing the audience sees.  Exactly why these women are together and how their lives intersect is only evident as the film continues. Viewers construct more understanding as pieces of the film offer tiny clues to what is happening and where the plot line is taking them.

Through constructivism, Volver allows viewers an ability to slowly determine what is unfolding. Men and women are depicted with some stereotypical imagery, purposefully placed items cue viewers to personal values, and a mix of camera shot angles all work together to enhance the overall emotional feel.

The multi-generational relationships among the women in Volver are complicated. While viewers know some of the characters’ moms are missing and/or deceased, the ups and downs in the relationships of the generations is evident. Women are presented in a traditional sense. Cleaning, cooking and taking on a caretaker role is in the forefront for the women. Yet, when Volver offers a first glimpse at a male in the film, it is one that fits many male stereotypes: lazy, beer-drinking, sports-loving, and very sexually motivated. Almodóvar takes his time building suspense and creates an unsettling mood by sprinkling in visuals of boundary breaking behaviors, all which the viewer will eventually understand more later in the film.   

Camera angle perspectives from above, from below, and close up, shift continually as Volver unfolds. A most memorable shot is one from above and panning down at lead character, Raimunda, while she’s doing dishes. Most prominently remembered and symbolically presented, are a knife and her cleavage. A viewer does not fully know what is to come, but symbolically the knife represents a death theme that will link everyone throughout Volver, while Raimunda’s cleavage symbolically represents the theme of sex and how it impacts relationships.

Images of wind turbines are also used symbolically by Almodóvar, reminding viewers that wind is a force tying all the layers of this story together. 

Iconic signs are thoughtfully placed throughout this film. Cross pennants worn around the necks of many women and a rosary hanging on a bedroom wall show that these women are faith-based. These religious icons connect the character’s life views to Volver’s plot theme, which includes ghosts and the return to life. Ultimately, Almodóvar’s use of semiotics and signs creates a condensed code. Death, life, ghosts and ideas of after-life are themes that have deep meaning for those living in a faith-based community. Volver offers scenes in cemeteries, at funerals, and imagery of religious items, which all create a context for how these characters experience life and death, love and loss.  

 Ultimately, when the truths about complicated, messy lives are expressed toward the end of this film, Almodóvar again uses visual techniques to capture emotions through framing and color. From a social perspective, a mother and daughter are framed centered and together, surrounded by vivid graffiti filling the background. The color red continues to be prominent in this moment, but for the last minutes of this film, it is noticeable that Raimunda’s connection to red fades just as the relationship with her mother begins to be rekindled.  

Much happens in this film, but it is not until the last few minutes that Almodóvar lets his audience fully in to the story he is telling. To grasp everything that has been in front of the viewers the entire time is surprising. As movie reviewer Roger Ebert (2006) most precisely noted about this film, “What is most unexpected about "Volver" is that it's not really about murder or the afterlife, but simply incorporates those awkward developments into the problems of daily living.”

Sources

Volver (2006) Written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar.

Lester, Paul Martin. (2020) Visual communication: Images with messages (8th ed.). Dallas: Lex Publishing.

Ghost, murder are all in the family.November 21, 2006. Retrieved on June 10, 2023 from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/volver-2006