Madres Paralelas (aka Parallel Mothers) (2021)

Two pregnant women, a photographer (Penelope Cruz in an Oscar nominated performance) and an unwed teenager (Milena Smit), are room mates in a hospital where they are about to give birth. As single mothers, they form a bond but their connection develops and complicates their lives in a decisive way. Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar, I have to confess I was disappointed and found this Almodovar's weakest film since I'M SO EXCITED (2013). Although bolstered by excellent performances, the film's most powerful moments aren't the central narrative of the two mothers but Cruz's attempt to excavate a mass grave in her home village where the victims of Franco's fascist reign during the Spanish Civil War are buried in unmarked graves. As if sensing this, Almodovar ends the film on that note, not on the relationship between the two women which often seems contrived. If the film were made by Warners in the late 1930s or 1940s, it could easily have been one of those melodramas starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins. I didn't dislike it, far from it (I didn't even dislike I'M SO EXCITED) but it's still lesser Almodovar. With Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sanchez Gijon and Rossy De Palma.