Parallel Mothers didn't quite work for me both thematically and dramatically. On the one hand I found its central question, about exploring how our relationships based on biological ties, to be underserviced, and narratively I found it dragged through parts while rushing through others. All in all it was a misfire for me never satisfying any of the itches it tries to scratch.
There are "parallel" stories going on here. A story about two mothers who may or may not be biologically related to their infants and another story about descendants seeking a resolution to the mysterious disappearances (and assumed deaths) of their ancestors during Spain's fascist past. Each asks questions about the nature of those relationships to people who never meet but are biologically related. But the film never satisfactorily answers them. And not in a we're-leaving-it-to-interpretation sort of way. More in a we-don't-know-what-to-say about it way. There are big parts of the the film that feel gross in how they assume the supremacy of relationships based on blood while showing how tenuous any human connections actually exist. But the film isn't brave enough to actually sit with this conundrum and just rushes through a bunch of presumed reactions. I felt the film failed in delivering an honest exploration of any of those emotions.
And this ties into the film's uneven pace. The film spends a lot of time building its central question, showing us Cruz' connection to her infant daughter only to reveal the predictable "twist" that her baby was switched at birth with another. Yes it's that soap opera-y. It even builds to her having a lesbian relationship with the infant's bio-mom which then allows a very convenient and rushed upon ending. Upon the big reveal the film careens through a gut-wrenching scene where she loses her baby only to have the couple reconcile and... well it all happens so fast I'm not sure exactly what happened. But I can tell you little of it felt real since we didn't get to see or feel most of it.
My problems with the film are compounded by a rather racist feeling subplot. Parallel Mothers raises the paternity question by continuing to talk about how "dark" the baby is and how that doesn't fit with her assumed parentage. The film doubles down on this by revealing the bio-mom was raped by non-white men, explaining the baby's colouring but also implying a lot of really disgusting things about racialized people. Each time those thread came up I cringed. There had to be a better way to get to the baby switching melodrama.
And the film ends on a weird moment of pathos where surviving ancestors of Franco's murdered victims stand over their bodies in a scene the film doesn't build to in any meaningful way. In fact the film continues to remind us that these people never met their murdered ancestors and never completely convinces us of their connection. Again if the film was wanting us to question this, then the ending makes little to no sense. But I'm not sure it does. Almodóvar seems to be assuming we'll just buy into that tragic moment. He doesn't earn it in anyway.
So for me Parallel Mothers was a disappointment in how it left me wanting both narratively and philosophically.
Parallel Mothers/Madres paralelas
Starring: Penelope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Rossy de Palma
Writer/Director: Pedro Almodóvar
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