| Director: | Pedro Almodóvar |
|---|---|
| Production: | Remotamente Films / El Deseo D.A. (Agustín Almodóvar, Esther García) |
| Running Time: | 123’ |
| Language: | Spanish |
| Country: | Spain |
| Main Cast: | Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Julieta Serrano, Rossy De Palma |
| Screenplay: | Pedro Almodóvar |
| Cinematographer: | José Luis Alcaine |
| Editor: | Teresa Font |
| Production Designer: | Antxon Gómez |
| Costume Designer: | Paola Torres |
| Music: | Alberto Iglesias |
| Sound: | Sergio Bürmann |
Cinema
Madres paralelas
Venezia 78 Competition
Synopsis
Two women 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 is exultant. The other, Ana, an adolescent, is scared, repentant and traumatised. Janis tries to encourage her while they move like sleepwalkers along the hospital corridors. The few words they exchange in those hours will create a very close link between the two, which by chance develops and becomes complicated, changing their lives in a decisive way.
Director’s Statement
The film starts with Janis looking for the means to open a mass grave containing the body of her great-grandfather, murdered in the Spanish civil war, and ends three years later with the opening of the grave. In between and at the center of the film, her relationship with Ana and its very unexpected complications. Madres paralelas talks about ancestors and descendants, about the truth of the historical past and the most intimate truth of the characters. It talks about identity and maternal passion through three very different mothers. Along with Janis and Ana, there is Ana’s mother, selfish and without any maternal instinct. It’s the imperfections of these mothers, very different from those who have appeared in my filmography to date, that attract me most as a narrator. This is the most difficult character that Penélope Cruz has ever played, and probably the most painful. The result is splendid. At her side, the young Milena Smit becomes the great revelation of the film. The purity and innocence of her Ana accentuate the darker parts of Janis. Both are very well accompanied by Aitana Sánchez Gijón and Israel Elejalde. At the end, they will all form part of a diverse and unexpected family, that is also real and authentic.
Production/Distribution
PRODUCTION 1: Agustín Almodóvar, Esther García - Remotamente Films A.I.E. / El Deseo D.A., S.L.U.
Calle Francisco Navacerrada 24
28028 – Madrid, Spain
Tel. +34 917248199
eldeseo@eldeseo.es
http://www.eldeseo.es
WORLD SALES: Glen Basner – FilmNation Entertainment
150 West 22nd St., 9th Floor,
NY 10011 – New York, United States of America
Tel. +1 9174848905
info@filmnation.com
http://www.filmnation.com
ITALIAN DISTRIBUTION: Riccardo Tinnirello – Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia
Via Giacomo Puccini 6
00198 – Roma, Italia
Tel. +39 06 448891
riccardo.tinnirello@warnerbros.com
ITALIAN PRESS OFFICE: Riccardo Mancini – Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia
Via Giacomo Puccini 6
00198 – Roma, Italia
Tel. +39 0644889212
Mob. +39 3332491667
riccardo.mancini@warnerbros.com
