Parallel Mothers: Deeply moving character drama

Parallel Mothers (2021) • View trailer

4.5 stars (out of five). Rated R, and perhaps too harshly, for sexuality

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang

Pedro Almodóvar’s films always are characterized by two things: strong, if sometimes psychologically damaged female characters, with men little more than sidebar distractions; and a socio-political subtext that deeply influences the relationship dynamics.

 

Ana (Milena Smitt, center) and Janis (Penélope Cruz), having met by chance in the
hospital delivery ward, are about to give birth on the same day.

Parallel Mothers is one of Almodóvar’s most deeply moving films, and it’s fueled by a powerhouse performance from his frequent amanuensis, Penélope Cruz: arguably her finest, most subtly shaded work yet. (This is their seventh collaboration, which began with 1997’s Live Flesh.) 

Although superficially described as a chance encounter — which leads to a deep friendship — between two women who give birth on the same day, at the same hospital, that barely scratches the surface of what eventually becomes a fascinating, at times painful emotional roller coaster.

 

Both pregnancies are unintended, both women becoming single parents.

 

Janis (Cruz), a middle-aged fashion photographer, is jubilant; she has experienced the joy of establishing a successful career, and now is prepared for the challenges of motherhood. She’s ready. 

 

The withdrawn, mousy Ana (Milena Smit), still adolescent, is repentant, traumatized and absolutely terrified. She gets no support from her self-absorbed mother, Teresa (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón), who focuses solely on her own acting career. In contrast, Janis is visited by her best friend and agent, Elena (Rossy de Palma), a cheerful, effervescent force of nature who swoops into the hospital room like an ambulatory rainbow.

 

Janis notes the disparity. Later, after the visitors have left, she tries to compensate with kindness and encouraging words, while she and Ana slowly pace the hospital corridors, awaiting delivery like exhausted sleepwalkers.

 

The babies arrive; the two women part. But not for long.

 

Janis’ initial au pair proves hopeless, particularly when the new mother decides to revive her photography career. A chance encounter with Ana — now a bit more relaxed and self-assured — proves inspirational; Janis knows that she’d make an excellent au pair, and the younger woman gratefully accepts the offer.

 

But she does so, under a cloud.

 

That makes them an excellent match, because Janis has long struggled with her own ghosts.