Women on the Verge

摘要

Pedro almodovar's latest film includes child abuse, murder, cancer, a corpse stashed in a freezer, a ghost and a village obsessed with the dead—in other words, it's one of his most benign movies. That's the wonderful paradox of "Volver," which Almodovar describes as "a meeting of 'Mildred Pierce' and 'Arsenic and Old Lace'." It's a mellow melodrama, filled with comedy, compassion and a sense of female community. The great Spanish director's fourth triumph in a row—following "All About My Mother," "Talk to Her" and "Bad Education"—"Volver" (which means "coming back") flows effortlessly between peril and poignancy, the real and the surreal, even life and death.