About the film (courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics):
Two women, Janis and Ana, coincide in a hospital room where they are going to give birth. Both are single and became pregnant by accident. Janis, middle-aged, doesn’t regret it and she is exultant. The other, Ana, an adolescent, is scared, repentant and traumatized. Janis tries to encourage her while they move like sleepwalkers along the hospital corridors. The few words they exchange in these hours will create a very close link between the two, which by chance develops and complicates, and changes their lives in a decisive way.
Parallel Mothers is a Spanish-speaking drama written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar that consists of wonderful acting and a story that pulls viewers in the longer it goes on. Subtitled films are generally not ones in which I naturally gravitate towards, but there has been an increasing number of them that have ended up being ones I’ve come to appreciate and strongly recommend. This happens to one of them and it also easily found its way onto my Top Films of 2021 list with it having a limited opening in a few US theaters as early as December 24, 2021.
The immersive, emotional story of the connection between two expecting mothers (Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit) who give birth the same day brings together events that you cannot help but become deeply invested in once you start watching. Cruz and Smit are great playing off of one another as they navigate the complexities of all of the different things that life throws their way. Israel Elejalde, Julieta Serrano, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón and Rossy de Palma are some of the other supporting actors that assist in bringing this brilliant story to life.
Parallel Mothers comes in at just over two hours but it’s about exactly as long as it needs to be in order to unpack all that is go on. There’s nothing fun, flashy, over-the-top or anything of that nature going on with this drama. What it is though is a nose to the grindstone experience that deals with real people in real-life situations. Sometimes this is an art that seems to be all but forgotten. Pedro Almodóvar does an excellent job reminding us all that there is plenty of space in the current world of cinema for titles like this.
If you’re not opposed to consuming a little reading while being completely drawn into a very well-rounded drama, please give serious consideration to finding a theater near you that is showing Parallel Mothers. You won’t be disappointed.
