By Arun Kumar
Featured in IMDb Critic Reviews
Featured in IMDb Critic Reviews
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| Julieta (2016) - By Pedro Almodovar |
Spanish film-maker Pedro Almodovar,
contemporary world cinema’s best melodramatist, is famous for weaving
intricate, incisive tales of mothers and daughters. The director’s mournful
narrative quality and his use of dazzling color palette have earned the
adjective ‘Almodovarian’. After an examination of male control fantasy
in “The Skin I Live In” and a campy ensemble film “I’m So Excited”,
Almodovar with his fragile mother story “Julieta” (2016), returns
to the mellow territory of “Talk to Her”, “All about My Mother”, and “Volver”.
“Julieta” is based on the three short stories of Nobel Prize winning
Canadian author Alice Munro (collection known as ‘Runaway’) and was
earlier alleged to be the director’s first English language film with central
character played by Meryl Streep. But, Almodovar opted to set the story closer
to home – Madrid – and as usual concentrates on his pet themes of guilt,
regret, transition and love. Almodovar in his interview to ‘BBC’ has
stated that his aesthetics in this film was controlled, apart from few
exceptions. Yes, the colors are little muted when compared to his other works,
although the very first shot commences with film-maker’s austere, trademark
color – Red. It is a scarlet fabric, bobbing gently in a way that reminds us of
petals being caressed by wind. Gradually, the red fabric is a silk dress worn
by the titular character (played by very restrained Emma Suarez) seated in
front of a table, wondering what to do with the bright blue envelope she is
holding in her hands.
Our Rating: 7.5
IMDb Ratings: 7.2
IMDb Ratings: 7.2
Genre: Drama | Romance
Cast: Adriana Ugarte, Rossy de Palma, Emma Suárez
Country: Spain
Language: Spanish
The blue and red color motifs are
diffused through most of the frames (yellow shades occupy the frames in the
later parts) and in this first instant, the blue envelope is thrown into the
trash. Julieta, in her early 50s, looks brokenhearted and greets her lover
Lorenzo (Dario Grandinetti) with a wry smile. They are soon moving to Portugal
and considering the turbulent past, Julieta hopes this is her last week in
Madrid. But like a ‘former addict slipping up once’, a chance encounter
with a friend (Michael Jenner) of her daughter Antia changes Julieta’s course.
She is once again confounded by feelings of guilt. The daughter’s friend Bea
says that she met Antia and her two children recently. It’s been a long time
since Julieta met or talked with Antia and the fact that her daughter has a
family opens up a fresh wound within heart. Julieta breaks up with Lorenzo,
buys a old apartment (where she once stayed with Antia – an unusually dull
space for an Almodovar movie, reflecting the character’s melancholy) and starts
writing a long letter to her daughter, chronicling from the day she met Xoan
(Daniel Groa) on a journey, who would become Antia’s father.
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| One of the beautiful moment in the film shared between Julieta and her ailing mother |
The narrative cuts back in time to the
late 1980s and Julieta (played by effervescent beauty Adriana Ugarte), working
as substitute teacher teaching Greek, meets a handsome fisherman Xaon. Before
meeting him in the cafeteria section of the train, young Julieta avoids a
conversation with old man, who later goes onto commit dramatic suicide. It’s
the first of many other guilt Julieta is about to face in her life. Could she
have saved the old man by conversing with him? No, it’s not her fault, assures
Xaon, who later enjoys a physical closeness with Julieta, giving rise to Antia.
It’s not the first foreboding moment we see in Almodovar’s films, followed by
passionate sex. The director conjures a beautiful shot as we see the vivid
reflection of Julieta riding Xaon in the rapidly traveling train. Julieta becomes
Xaon’s second wife (first wife died after suffering for years in coma) and
constantly observed by disapproving house-keeper Marian (Rossy de Palma). With
Antia’s birth, Julieta anticipates nothing but happiness in life, but a simple
journey to see parents raises doubts and warnings. When Antia is nine years
old, a tragedy (we expect) strikes their family and the mother & daughter
is set on a downward spiral of guilt.
Almodovar makes ample references to
Hitchcock (young Julieta’s blonde hair to the mean house-keeper, fateful
meeting in a train), Patricia Highsmith, and Greek tragedy. The somber,
controlled style of the director plus his trademark ideas of connecting
emotions with costume and props gives great pleasure for the admirers of his
oeuvre. But, I felt that there’s not enough robust material in the narrative
(or suspense) to make “Julieta” a masterful, melodramatic domestic
feature. The film-maker instills immense empathy and maturity in the way he
deals with women characters (the artist Ava played by Inma Cuesta is one of
fabulous, distinctive Almodovar characters), although there’s not enough
breathing space for the tragedy or themes to fully evolve. “Julieta”
isn’t devoid of profound moments and the expressions of abandonment in Emma
Suarez’s wrinkled face bring the kind of rawness we look for in the director’s
movie. As Julieta grows old she replaces the atmosphere around her and
relationships with something new. However, the estrangement and loss of child
is an absent space she couldn’t fill. This is elegantly observed through
Julieta’s sparsely-furnished apartment and in the wandering around old
neighborhood. Suarez’s character isn’t also the usual powerful mother we saw in
the director’s previous features. She is very fragile and turns guilt into some
sort of illness to only infect her daughter Antia. There are other Almodovorian
flourishes like in the hair-drying sequence we see a transition happening in
Julieta’s life.
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| Inma Cuesta plays the trademark Almodovarian woman character and Adriana Ugarte as young Julieta |
Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar’s
“Julieta” (96 minutes) is a fine melodrama about mother/daughter
relationship, elevated by the film-maker’s meticulous approach to visual
design. Although supremely performed and crafted, the endeavor is smaller &
leaner in scope.
About Author -
Arun Kumar is an ardent cinephile, who finds solace by exploring and learning from the unique works of the cinematic art. He believes in the shared-dream experience of cinema and tries to share those thoughts in the best possible way. He blogs at Passion for Movies and 'Creofire'.
Readers, please feel free to share your views/opinions in the comment box below. As always your feedback is highly appreciated!
References:
Juliete (2016) Trailer (YouTube)
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