Two unmarried women who have become pregnant by accident and are about to give birth meet in a hospital room: Janis, in her late-thirties, unrepentant and happy; Ana, a teenager, remorseful and frightened.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.6/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Letterboxd: 3.60/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Metacritic: 88
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Pedro Almodóvar
Production
El Deseo, TVE
Cast
Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Rossy de Palma, Julieta Serrano, Arantxa Aranguren, Adelfa Calvo, José Javier Domínguez, Trinidad Iglesias, Inma Ochoa, Ana Peleteiro, Daniela Santiago, Chema Adeva, Luna Auria Contreras, Agustín Almodóvar, Carmen Flores Sandoval, Alice Davies, Ainhoa Santamaría, Julio Manrique
Curator Review
Verdict
A richly designed, emotionally layered Almodóvar drama that blends maternal melodrama, queer awakening, and historical reckoning with strong performances and vivid visual style. It’s more ambitious than seamless, but the craft, feeling, and Penélope Cruz’s presence make it rewarding.
Best for
fans of character-driven melodrama
viewers who like emotionally charged family stories
audiences interested in Spanish history and memory
fans of queer subtext and identity stories
viewers who appreciate bold production design
Skip if
you want a tightly plotted, minimalist drama
you dislike tonal shifts between intimate and political material
you prefer understated realism over heightened style
you’re not in the mood for soap-opera intensity
Overview
Parallel Mothers is one of those Almodóvar films that wears its emotions and its colors in full view. It starts with a deceptively simple premise about two women in a maternity ward, then widens into a story about motherhood, identity, grief, and the long shadow of Spain’s unresolved past. The film is at its strongest when it lets Penélope Cruz anchor the drama with warmth and steel, while the production design turns apartments, clothes, and domestic objects into extensions of character.
Worth noting
The movie is also more openly political than some of Almodóvar’s earlier work, and that gives it a second current: private lives colliding with historical memory. For some viewers, the two strands will feel beautifully intertwined; for others, a little too neatly assembled. Even so, the emotional intelligence of the performances and the director’s confidence with tone keep it compelling.
Bottom line
If you like cinema that is lush, melodramatic, and deeply invested in women’s interior lives, this is an easy recommendation. It’s not the most disciplined Almodóvar film, but it is very much a recognizable one: passionate, stylish, and alive to the messiness of human attachment.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Abbie (4★) · 3752 likes
They did NOT have to give my girl Ana an Ellen the Generous hair cut to drive home that she’s a lesbian!!!
alba (3.5★) · 3338 likes
i NEED an architectural digest episode on janis's apartment
KYK (3★) · 2545 likes
in spain but the s is silent
skyler 🌸 (4★) · 2246 likes
Can’t wait for the sequel Perpendicular Fathers
davidehrlich (3.5★) · 2060 likes
deeply obsessed with Penelope Cruz's cathode ray TV baby monitor.