Julieta

Julieta

‘Antia has chosen her own path and you are not a part of it’

‘Julieta’[2016] is the latest Spanish film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar that follows a mother that reflects on her past life and the disappearance of her daughter.

As she packs up her whole life and plans to move to Portugal with her boyfriend Lorenzo (Darío Grandienetti), Juleita Arcos (Emma Suárez) encounters her daughters childhood best friend Beatriz (Michelle Jenner) which causes her to relive many emotions that she has tried for years to suppress and had somewhat successfully done so, as Beatriz reveals that when in Switzerland she had spoken to her daughter, Antía, and learned that she has three children.

This causes Julieta to regress and no longer want to go to Portugal but instead moves back to the apartment she shared with her daughter in Madrid as she hopes and waits for her to contact. During this time Julieta begins to document her life from meeting Antía’s father Xoan (Daniel Grao) to her emotions when her daughter leaves her suddenly.

When I first saw the poster for the film I expected it to be about the relationship between Emma Suárez and Inma Cuesta as they are the only ones on the poster. Although it was not I did enjoy the storyline of the film but I’m still wondering why the film was advertised in such a manner as even in the film the relationship between their characters isn’t heavily focused on.

Having studied Almodóvar’s film ‘Volver’ in the past the use of red, his calling card, did not go unnoticed but I don’t believe it was completely suited as some of its connotations of love, ambition and energy weren’t shown in the film but instead the opposite as Juileta is afraid to fully love and commit herself to Lorenzo nor does she come across like a highly energised person.

Though the film ended rather suddenly in my opinion its ending signifies the importance of the journey and the experience emphasised by the use of flashbacks in the film which in my opinion enabled Julieta to accept what had happened in the past and take the step in search for her daughter.

Overall while the film had dramatic elements and an interesting story as a whole I wasn’t completely impressed with the film and was left wanting more throughout, maybe because Almodóvar had merged three stories into one to create ‘Julieta’ prevented each element to being explored thoroughly and thus caused me not to massively enjoy the film .