Pedro Almodovar's 2004 Hitchcockian effort, Bad Education, proved to be a polarizing force. Volver found plaudits amongst nearly every critic, and that is because amongst the father-stabbing, singalongs and appearances of ghosts, Almodovar has truly found his niche.

Penelope Cruz plays the put-upon mother Raimunda, who, straight after attending the dusty town of La Mancha to attend to her mother's grave, finds herself husbandless, thanks to her own daughter. So far, so convoluted. But there's more. Her sister, Sole (Lola Deunas) thinks she's seeing the ghost of her dead mother, and their friend Augustina tries to find out the truth about her own mother, before time runs out and cancer gets the best of her.

In his deftly-weaved, beautifully portrait of the fairer sex, Almodovar's touches are bold and brilliant, every scene resonating a vibrancy and unforgettable soul that is very appealing. In the lead role, Penelope Cruz gives one of the best performances of the year. As Raimunda, she is outspoken, risk-taking, and harbours a troubled secret about her daughter. The plot turns, suffice to say are as audacious as that of any Alomodovarian plot, but Volver impacts for its huge heart. You will love this women and care about their every move.

The melodramatic, offbeat style that the film is made suits it perfectly, and Cruz, Duenas, Maura and Portillo give performances that impress and involve. Although the film, written specially for Cruz, essentially belongs to her and the independent, individual character of Raimunda, Maura, as the ghostly figure of her mother, is sad and funny, and perfectly in control of a performance that could easily slip into farce. Portillo is as impressive, and in a key scene involving a decision made on live TV, every nuance of her acting is effective in the heart-wrenching scene.

Regular Almodovar collaborator, Alberto Iglesias, tunes his musical skills to perfection, and, through pizzicato-led interludes and frames saturated with colour, Almodovar's canny direction shines. He presents us a story as big-hearted and loving as many you're likely to find this year, and, despite there being some shocking plot twists, you'll still come out of Volver with a positive outlook on life. There's a lot of ground covered here, from severing drinks to parental atonement, but every scene has something great to it, thanks to a lovely screenplay that is by turns witty, bright, disturbing and heartbreaking. Mature, beautifully told and wonderfully acted, Volver is worth returning to.

The specter of a dead mother looms large over the lives of Raymunda and her sister Sole. In fact, when we first meet them, they are cleaning their parents' grave in their small hometown's cemetery. Since both sisters have left the town for Madrid, the sisters, as well as most of the people from the small town are doing that, maybe to observe All Souls Day. It appears that both sisters have bad memories of the small rural village where they grew up. Raimunda, more than Sole, has to deal with her own demons and their visits to their older aunt Paula, who is going senile, cause anxiety in them.

The older aunt Paula, has lived near the kind Agustina, a good neighbor. Like in most small towns, there is a legend where most of the people in town have seen what they feel is the ghost of Irene, the dead mother of the two sisters and Paula's sister, who supposedly died in the arms of their father in a small hut during a fire. Agustina's mother, coincidentally, disappeared from the town just around that time. When the mystery surrounding the dead Irene is solved, it doesn't surprise us because we realize real ghosts are products of the imagination. The revelation of a family secret united Irene and Raimunda as they make peace with one another.

"Volver", Pedro Almodovar's latest film, pays tribute to women trapped in bad marriages. It also pays tribute to a Spain that doesn't exist anymore. Most of those towns near the big cities have disappeared. With them went the rich lives the inhabitants of those villages created for them and their families. The post Franco Spain has evolved into a modern country in which people have no love for the work in the fields. Most people end up in places like Madrid where there is more prosperity, yet, their lives suffer because they are lost in the anonymity of the large metropolis.

Pedro Almodovar has taken a thorny issue, incest, to be at the heart of the story. Irene's husband, a womanizer, and Paco, Raymunda's husband are men of great sexual appetites, who don't care who they hurt, as long as they can satisfy their hideous desires. Obviously, this problem is more common than one can imagine. The director deals with it in a sober way, without sensationalizing it.

Supposedly, Pedro Almodovar, is paying tribute to his own mother, and the women he knew growing up in a small town of La Mancha with this new film. Like the Argentine writer, Manuel Puig, Almodovar discovered a the possibilities in portraying those women from his formative years. He also has a great ear for what goes on when women gather to talk. One example comes to mind when all the women in the town are seen at the old aunt's wake, as Sole, who is afraid of seeing dead people gets into Agustina's house and suddenly surrounded by Paula's friends.

There is an indication that comes late in the film that Almodovar must have found an inspiration in those Italian domestic dramas of the fifties, as we see Irene watching a Luchino Visconti's film, "Bellissima", in which Anna Magnani reigns supreme. This Raimunda, in a lot of ways resemble her Italian prototype in the way she has been presented in the movie.

Penelope Cruz, whose Hollywood career doesn't amount to much, is one of the best things in "Volver". Ms. Cruz shows that with the right director behind her, she can deliver. The other great presence, and we could even dare say, no one has paid her praise for her contribution in the film, is the great Carmen Maura. Playing Irene, Ms. Maura does wonders with her character, a woman that has hidden from her own daughter because of the shame she has carried for many years.

The others in the cast, notably Lola Duenas, and the excellent Blanca Portillo, enhance the film with their presence. Johana Cobo plays Raimunda's daughter. The comic relief comes by way of Cuban actress Maria Isabel Diaz, who plays the kind prostitute Regina, a woman who proves to be a real friend when Raimunda needs her. Chus Lampreave, another Almodovar regular, doesn't have much to do.

"Volver" shows a mature Pedro Almodovar at the top of his form.

Penepole Cruz is chopping tomatoes at the restaurant and says to the guy, "Please don't look at me like that. You're making me nervous." She has a right to be nervous. This is the world of Pedro Almodovar where bad men do bad things to good (sometimes) women. At least these horrific acts are not represented on screen. Not only that, not even men are represented on screen. They get a few seconds here and there but that's it.

We do see a lot of women, an ensemble cast that I found entertaining as they try get along in the world, taking care of older loved ones, coping with trauma, doing their jobs, burying dead bodies, dying of cancer, and even coming back from the dead. Maybe. I hope not but because there is nothing like a little Magic Realism to ruin a story. If it's not ruined already. It's hard to tell because Pedro must be fond of games. He really knows how to stack the cards. But I still like it.

The ladies are soft spoken and sympathetic and I liked them. The emotional quality of what they are saying really shows and makes them sympathetic. They hug and kiss each other a lot. The dialogue is quite good. Penelope is staggeringly pretty but I didn't like the song. The arrangement was too complex for such an impromptu gig which ruined it for me. I admit to folly in thinking early on that she was going to serve her dead husband to the film crew. How silly of me, what do I think I'm watching, Hitchcock? As you can see this is my first Almovdovar and I probably don't get it (unless it is a sort of paean to the plight of women ... or something) or at least fully realize the true intent, like everybody else in the world no doubt can.