Parallel Mothers (2021)

Parallel Mothers is Almodóvar at his most confident: a lush, emotionally precise melodrama that turns a chance meeting in a maternity ward into a meditation on identity, responsibility, and the way the past quietly insists on being heard. Penélope Cruz gives one of those performances that feels lived-in rather than performed—warm, complicated, and riveting even in silence—while Milena Smit matches her with a raw, searching vulnerability that keeps the film grounded. The tone is intimate and adult, full of Almodóvar’s signature color and compassion, but it’s also bracing in how it lets love and guilt coexist without neat moral shortcuts. If you’re allergic to heightened emotion or heavy subject matter, it may feel intense, but if you want a drama that’s humane, twisty in the best way, and ultimately cathartic, this one stays with you.

Parallel Mothers is Pedro Almodóvar aiming for a rich, emotional melodrama that ties intimate motherhood choices to Spain’s buried historical trauma, and you can feel the ambition in every carefully composed scene. The catch is that it’s deliberately talky, heavy, and paced like an adult novel rather than a twisty thriller, so if you want subtle realism or quick momentum, it may feel contrived and emotionally “worked.” Some of the big developments lean on coincidence and soap-operatic turns, which will either strike you as bold Almodóvar operatics or as manipulation. Still, Penélope Cruz is magnetic, the film looks gorgeous, and if you’re open to intense themes (including sexual violence and grief) handled in a serious, empathetic way, it can be a rewarding watch—just not a light one.