Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz in born-and-bred masterpiece

Parallel Mothers is one of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s finest films.

Penelope Cruz in Parallel Mothers

Parallel Mothers (Madres paralelas) (M)
In cinemas
★★★★½

Parallel Mothers is one of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s finest films; that places it on a similar level to All About My Mother (1999), his masterpiece, Talk to Her (2002) and Volver (2006).

Almodovar has regularly provided wonderful roles for female actors and in this film one of his regulars, Penelope Cruz, gives a career best performance (and was duly honoured with the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival last year) while newcomer Milena Smit, in only her second feature, also shines.

The women, 40-ish professional photographer Janis (Cruz) and teenaged Ana (Smit), meet in the maternity ward of a Madrid hospital where they share a room. Neither of them has a partner. In the opening scenes of the film we have seen Janis, named after Janis Joplin by her hippy mother who died young, having a brief fling with Arturo (Israel Elejalde), a married forensic anthropologist; Arturo’s wife is suffering from cancer and the relationship doesn’t last.

Janis wants Arturo to help her in her dream project, to exhume the bodies of her great-grandfather and his comrades who were murdered by pro-Franco Falangists during the Civil War. In exploring this theme, Almodovar is delving into Spain’s recent but tragic past for the first time in his career, making Parallel Mothers the director’s most political film to date. The high camp that was a feature of his early films, has been left far behind him.

Baby girls are born to these two very different women at almost exactly the same time. Ana had hoped that her mother, Teresa (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), a struggling actor, will help her look after the baby, but Teresa is unexpectedly cast in the lead in a play by Federico Garcia Lorca, who was murdered by Franco’s Fascists in 1936, and has to leave Madrid for a tour of provincial theatres. It’s natural, then, for the older Janis to offer to help the young and rather frightened Ana.

That’s the start of a film that contains several twists and turns. Some of the surprises Almodovar has in store in his beautifully constructed screenplay you can see coming; others you might not. In any event, the intriguing narrative and the richly drawn characters make for a gripping, high-class melodrama of the first order. As with almost all the director’s films, especially the more recent ones, this is beautifully crafted with outstanding cinematography (by Jose Luis Alcaine), production and costume design; there’s a very fine music score by Alberto Iglesias.

If you’re already a fan of Almodovar’s work this is essential viewing; if you haven’t been introduced to his very special world before, Parallel Mothers will be a great place to start.

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The Eyes of Tammy Faye (M)
In cinemas
★★★★

Australians may not be familiar with the famous/notorious American tele-evangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker, so The Eyes of Tammy Faye may be revelatory for many. Tammy, played as a child by Chandler Head and as an adult by the very excellent Jessica Chastain, grew up in the 1950s in rural Minnesota in a deeply religious family, though she felt ostracised because her mother had divorced her father. In 1960, while studying at a Bible college, Tammy meets Jim (Andrew Garfield), they marry and take to the highways as roving evangelists; in one of their stopovers the couple meets a fellow preacher who introduces them to Pat Robertson (Gabriel Olds), who works for CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network). Through this contact, Tammy and Jim are employed at CBN and meet the most powerful tele-evangelist of the era, Rev. Jerry Falwell (Vincent D’Onofrio), a homophobe and misogynist who is clearly discomfited when Tammy – uninvited – joins him and a bunch of other male preachers for lunch.

Before too long Tammy and Jim have their own television network – PTL (Praise the Lord) – on satellite television and by the 1970s are broadcasting to a vast and enthusiastic audience that regularly contributes money to the couple’s favourite causes. But alongside this commendable charity work, much of it in the Third World, Tammy and Jim have been able to create for themselves a sumptuous lifestyle, also thanks to the donations from viewers.

As time goes by this success story takes some downward turns, and as a result there are strains on the marriage. While Tammy is portrayed as being naïve and gullible, she is tenacious in her support for Republican political figures who share her religious views, and her influence clearly goes a very long way. Chastain gives a fine performance as this troubled woman, whose addiction to pills and soft drinks contributes to her loss of self-esteem. Garfield impresses less, but then the sexually conflicted Jim is a less interesting character.

Michael Showalter’s film provides a fascinating insight into the world of its fiercely religious characters whose initial motives, to help the poor and needy, are compromised by the exploitative and greedy men who surround them.

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Queen Bees (PG)
In cinemas
★★★

Films aimed at an older demographic continue to be produced at a steady rate, and Queen Bees, which is principally set in a retirement home, is a perfectly good example of the genre. There’s nothing very original or remarkable about it, but, as was the case with the recent Australian retirement home movie, Never Too Late, it boasts a fine cast and is very easy to take.

The film stars 88-year-old Ellen Burstyn, who made her name in the 1970s with films like The Exorcist and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More, and she looks simply wonderful playing Helen, a widow of three years who is doggedly determined to keep living in her family home, though her control-freak daughter, Laura (Elizabeth Mitchell), keeps urging her to move to Pine Grove, an upmarket aged care home located nearby. Helen won’t hear of it, but she’s getting forgetful – she often locks herself out of her house – and when she sets fire to the kitchen it’s time to go, at least while the damaged house is being renovated.

At Pine Grove Helen keeps her distance at first; she doesn’t want to befriend the other residents because, as she keeps saying, she doesn’t plan to stay very long. That’s despite the fact that Dan (James Caan), another recent arrival, seems attracted to her and is very charming and very solicitous.

Lording it over the residence are the Queen Bees, a formidable quartet of women led by the waspish Janet (Jane Curtin); no-one is allowed to sit at their table without permission and newcomers aren’t welcome at the bridge game they play every evening (“We’re like Mean Girls but with medical alert bracelets.”) But when one of the four conveniently expires, and Helen reveals that she’s an ace at cards, she’s allowed into the group, reluctantly by Janet but more enthusiastically by the flirtatious Margot (Ann-Margret) and the cheerful cancer survivor Sally (Lorette Devine). Helen’s grandson, Peter (Matthew Barnes), regularly visits her and, once she has warmed to Dan’s attentions, while teaching him how to dance, she settles in quite well.

There are a few minor complications in all of this, and the film is certainly uneven. Christopher Lloyd overplays the role of an amorous resident who suffers from dementia, but Burstyn gives a fine performance and there are amusing supporting roles for French Stewart, as the devious manager of the home, and Alec Mapa as the resident Filipino masseur and driver. Caan has lost nothing of his charisma over the years, but it’s sad to see that he is clearly suffering from a back problem.

The end credits feature photographs of weddings that have taken place at retirement homes, presumably to underline the film’s proposition that you’re never too old to fall in love. Director Michael Lembeck handles it all with an anonymous efficiency.