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Volver | 2006 | R | - 6.5.5

Penelope Cruz stars in this Spanish film about two women who work through their grief after the death of their beloved aunt. They hear unusual stories about the days before her death and while trying to find out the truth about the disappearance of another woman's mother, some dark secrets are uncovered. Also with Carmen Maura, Lola Duenas, Blanca Portillo and Yohana Cobo. Directed by Pedro Almodovar. In Spanish with English subtitles. [1:51]

SEX/NUDITY 6 - A husband and wife lie in bed together, the man kisses the woman's cheek and tries to convince her to have sex; she rolls over on her side and he masturbates (we hear rhythmic movement and moaning).
 A teenage girl tells her mother that her stepfather tried to rape her (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). We hear that a father sexually abused his daughter and that she became pregnant.
 A teenage girl changes her clothes (the side of her bare breast is visible), and her stepfather passes her room and watches her. A teenaged girl wearing a mini-skirt sits on a chair with one leg over the arm of the chair (her tights and panties are visible) and her stepfather looks at her inappropriately.
 A woman washes dishes and the camera is focused directly down her shirt and on her cleavage, a woman wears a low-cut lace camisole that reveals cleavage, and a woman wears low-cut dresses and tops that reveal cleavage.
 A woman talks to a woman who is apparently a prostitute and offers to pay her for her time and the woman makes crude comments about not knowing that she was interested in women sexually. A woman is told that her father was having an affair with another woman's mother. It is suggested that a woman is a prostitute.
 A woman asks her adult daughter about the size of her breasts and whether she ever had anything done to them, such as breast enlargement.

VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - A teenage girl tells her mother that her stepfather tried to rape her and that she killed him with a kitchen knife (we see the man lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood).
 A woman cleans blood off a floor using paper towels and a mop, and she washes blood off a knife. A woman and a teenage girl drag a body wrapped in a blanket into a closed restaurant and dump it into a chest freezer.
 A woman has blood on her neck and hand and tells a man that she has "woman's troubles" when he asks about it.
 A woman yells and runs when she sees a woman who is supposed to be dead, approach her. A woman panics when she hears pounding and a woman's voice coming from the trunk of her car; she opens the trunk and finds a woman hiding there.
 A woman is told that her aunt died. We hear that a father sexually abused his daughter and that she became pregnant. We hear that a woman is dying from cancer. A woman confesses to setting a fire that killed a man and a woman in their sleep. A woman talks about finding a dead woman. Women talk about a man and woman having burned to death in a fire. A woman talks about spirits showing themselves to people.
 Women polish the gravestones of their departed loved ones.

LANGUAGE 5 - 1 F-word, 2 sexual references, 2 scatological terms, 1 mild obscenity, 1 religious profanity, 2 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - A woman rolls a marijuana cigarette and smokes it, and a woman smokes another marijuana cigarette. A man drinks a beer and has apparently had several others already.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Death, death of family members, infidelity, jealousy, cancer, friendship, mental illness, rape, illegal business operations (a woman has an illegal hair salon in her home), paternity.

MESSAGE - Not facing horrible family events can only lead to misunderstandings and estrangement.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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