Julieta

Plot synopsis:
Julieta lives in Madrid and is about to move to Portugal with her boyfriend Lorenzo. In a chance encounter on the street with her daughter Antía's childhood friend Beatriz, she learns that Antía, from whom she has long been estranged, is living in Switzerland and has three children. Overcome by her desire to reestablish contact with Antía, she abandons plans to leave Spain and instead leases an apartment elsewhere in the building in Madrid where she raised Antía, knowing that address is Antía's only means of contacting her.
Anticipating word from Antía, and aware that she owes her daughter an explanation of the events that led to their separation, Julieta fills a journal with an account of her life as mother, spouse, and daughter. As she begins with the story of meeting Xoan, a fisherman and Antía's father. In a flashback, Julieta recounts meeting Xoan on a train, having fled to the restaurant carriage from an older man. He tells her about his life as a fisherman, and his wife who is in a coma. The train stops sharply, having hit the older man, who committed suicide. As Julieta blames herself for his death, Xoan comforts her, and they have sex on the train. Later, at the school at which she works, Julieta receives a letter from Xoan which she takes as an invitation to visit. She learns his wife has recently died and that he is with Ava, a friend. Julieta and Xoan resume their relationship, and she informs him that she is pregnant with his child. Two years later, Julieta and Antía visit Julieta's parents. Her mother is ill and apparently suffering from Alzheimer's disease, at first not recognising her daughter. Her father is having an affair with the maid, to Julieta's chagrin.
While an older Antía is at a summer camp, Xoan and Julieta argue over his occasional dalliances with Ava, prompted by the housekeeper. Julieta storms out to walk and Xoan goes fishing. A storm rolls in and, as Julieta watches the news in panic, Xoan is killed. At camp, Antía has become inseparable with a girl named Beatriz. Julieta travels to Madrid to break the news of Xoan's death, and rents a flat there. At the age of 18, Antía embarks on a spiritual retreat and announces that she will be incommunicado for three months.
When Julieta drives to the location of the retreat in the Pyrenees three months later, she is informed that her daughter has already left, and does not want her location disclosed to her mother. Julieta is racked by the loss and her attempts to find Antía are unsuccessful. The only contact she has is a blank card on her 19th, 20th and 21st birthdays. After the latter she is enraged and destroys most traces of her daughter in her life, moving from her apartment. She visits Ava, who has multiple sclerosis and is dying. Ava tells her that Antía knew about the argument that precipitated Xoan's death and blamed Julieta and Ava, and that she had ultimately internalised guilt about this because she was away at camp at the time. At Ava's funeral, Julieta meets Lorenzo and the two embark on a happy relationship, which distracts Julieta from her loss. She tells him nothing of Antía and he respects that she has some secrets in her life.
Back in the present, Lorenzo has gone to Portugal and Julieta's mental state is deteriorating as she visits places she used to go with her daughter. Beatriz encounters her, and reveals she and Antía had a lesbian relationship. After attending the spiritual retreat, Antía told Beatriz she was ashamed of it, and cut her out of her life just as she had Julieta.
Later Julieta collapses in the street but is seen by a newly-returned Lorenzo. He visits her flat where he finds a letter from Antía, which he brings to Julieta - along with her memoir, apparently unread. Antía speaks of the death of her son, which has deeply affected her and allowed her to understand how Julieta must feel at their separation. She has also included a return address. Lorenzo and Julieta drive to Switzerland and Julieta resolves not to demand an explanation, simply wishing to be with her daughter.

Tags: flashback

Review:
In one of the first scenes, director Almodovar presents the question that is central to the rest of the film: what happened to the daughter of lead character Julieta?
This is Pedro is a very serious mode, perhaps too serious; maybe a little bit of humor might not have gone amiss.Julieta is played by two different actresses, (Adriana Ugarte and Emma Suarez), at different stages of her life and much of the film is told in flashbacks.
These women, and Almodovar's meticulous direction, hold our attention but I was never moved by the film in a way I felt I should have been, at least until the very end.The source material is three stories by Alice Munro, none of which I've read, but considering how seamlessly Almodovar keeps the material flowing I am sure he has done a very fine job of adapting them for the screen, nor can I imagine how the original conception of filming this in English with Meryl Streep might have worked.
I'm a big fan of Almodóvar's work, his movies follow my life since I was a teenager, I always adore his early work, movies like "Kika", "High heels" and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" are still considered by me as the height of his career - a bizarre comedy- dramas with a kinky side and raw edges.in the late 90's Almodóvar became famous worldwide with movies such as "live flesh" "all about your mother" and "talk to her" a melodramatic movies that touched us with a unique approach and vivid colors.this movie is similar to his big successful movies from the late 90s: the women are in the center of the story where the men pushed aside, there is still a melodramatic approach and lots of mysteries that similar to an onion, piled up slowly, layer by layer until the very end of the movie.
This character study/mystery/melodrama has hints of both Douglas Sirk and even Hitchcock in its beautiful look, production design, and score, even if it's story is more wispy than most films by those old masters.
She writes the story of her adult life and loves – which led to her loss – as a sort of goodbye (perhaps suicide?) letter/diary to her daughter that she knows will probably never be read.
You may enjoy Julieta (2016) more if you know that it is a women's film from the melodrama genre and a story of pure emotion.
While critics may be divided, this is a beautiful film with a long aftertaste.We meet the attractive widow Julieta just as she is packing to leave Madrid and move with her boyfriend to Portugal.
Unable to deal with her grief in any other way, she writes the story of her life as if she is talking to her absent daughter.Julieta narrates the story in chapters that become extended flashbacks to her early romance with Antia's father, their lives together as a family and its eventual disintegration.
Pedro Almodovar's 2016 production is one of those films that captivates the viewers during the whole duration of the screening because of the mastering of story telling and by using human emotions.
I believe that the conditions are met for the first 10 out of 10 grade on my IMDb scale in years.Many of the previous films of Almodovar are about love and loss, about communication with and without words, about death and passion and the fragile border between them.
What seems to be different in 'Julieta' is the more tender approach and also a message that seems to be more assertive that in many other movies of the Spanish maestro – there are dangers in being lonely and in not being capable to communicate with those you care about.The social landscape where the film takes place is the same Spain in evolution from the democratic awakening of the late 70s and early 80s with its breaking of tradition and liberation of passions until the today with its cold and antiseptic kind of connections in the bourgeois or intellectual circles.
Death seems to be around the corner at many moments, so is physical incapacity and the pain of coping with the decay of the dear ones – these are some of the recurring themes in the movies of the Spanish master.As in many of Almodovar's films its the women characters who share most of the load (although this film also features one sensitive man as a key supporting character).
The two actresses that play Julieta at the two stages of her life – Adriana Ugarte as a young woman, Emma Suárez as her elder self are both superb in taking turns to tell the story of a woman who loves and fears, loses all and searches back to find her compass in life.
Based on three short stories written by the Canadian author and 2013 Nobel laureate, Alice Munro, I'd say 'Julieta' is about a woman who struggles with the absence of those she'd like to have closest to her, because she foremost lacks a healthy relationship with her own self.
She decides to write the heartbreaking story of her life since she was a young woman and met her beloved future husband and Antia´s father Xoan (Daniel Grao) until the losses of Xoan and Antia.
"Julieta" is a dramatic romance by Pedro Almodóvar in a conventional style totally different from most of his previous works, since it is neither tacky nor aggressive to the Catholic Church; and using neither bright colors nor bizarre characters.
Indeed it is a mature work disclosing the story of a middle-aged depressed woman that has her life affected for the loss of her beloved husband first and the last twelve years for the disappearance of her eighteen year-old daughter.
Pedro Almodover 2oth feature film being an engaging and thought provoking melodrama dealing with a middle age woman , Emma Suarez , living in Madrid with her sweetheart , Dario Grandinetti , about to move towards Lisboa .
Fate and mother/daughter relationships Pedro Almodóvar crowns his 30 year career as one of our most creative, controversial and brilliant cinematic artists with this his twentieth film – JULIETA – based on three short stories by Alice Munro as adapted for the screen by Almodóvar.
Not only is the story mesmerizing and at times challenging to keep up with the director's ideas, it displays a brilliant cast of Spanish actors in one of the most impressive films of the past year.
The manner in which Almodóvar transitions these two aspects of the personality of Julieta (as well as the stunning performances by the two actresses – Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte) is just one of the miracles of this film.Briefly, after a casual encounter, a brokenhearted woman decides to confront her life and the most important events about her stranded daughter.
With the heart broken after 12 years of total absence of her daughter, Julieta cancels the journey to Portugal and she moves to her former building, in the hope that Antia someday communicates with her sending a letter.
Alone with her thoughts, Julieta starts to write her memories to confront the pain of the events happened when she was a teenager (Adriana Ugarte) and met Xoan (Daniel Grao), a Galician fisherman.
Falling in love with him, Julieta divides her time between the family, the job and the education of Antia until a fatal accident changes their lives: Xoan is drowned at sea during a brutal storm.
Slowly decaying in a depression, Julieta is helped by Antia and Bea, but one day Antia goes missing suddenly after a vacation with no clues about where to find her, leaving Julieta desperate to understand the reasons of her missing and her search leads to self discovery and acceptance of buried secrets – her own relationship with her mother and the kinship between like mother who happen to be mother/daughter.
-Julieta is a 2016 Spanish film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar based on three short stories from the book Runaway (2004) by Alice Munro.
The film marks Almodóvar's 20th feature and stars Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte as older and younger versions of the film's protagonist, Julieta, alongside Daniel Grao, Inma Cuesta, Darío Grandinetti, Michelle Jenner and Rossy de Palma.
Rotten Tomatoes gave Julieta a score of 66% based on reviews from 29 critics; Metacritic gave the film a weighted score of 63/100, based on 10 critiques, which indicates "generally favourable reviews".-The film drew praise from critics in Spain, including La Vanguardia, who compared Julieta to the female-centric films of George Cukor and Kenji Mizoguchi while noting hints of Alfred Hitchcock in Almodóvar's screenplay.-Julieta had a warm reception at the Cannes Film Festival, which was followed by extremely positive reactions from French film critics, including Le Monde who called it "a beautiful film of very pure sadness" and La Croix who thought the theme of guilt was a welcome new addition to Almodóvar's work, calling Julieta "a beautiful and intense film".-The British press were very positive about the film: Screen Daily labelled the film "an anxious, tantalising creature which returns the Spanish director to the exclusive world of women" and stated that Almodóvar's "distinctive voice (grows) in texture and depth with each new production".-American critics tended to have more mixed feelings, like Variety, who stated that while the film was "a welcome return to the female-centric storytelling that has earned Almodóvar his greatest acclaim, it is far from this reformed renegade's strongest or most entertaining work"..
The story is not unique, but the way it was told and unfolded, coupled with the superb performance and the aesthetic visuals, all together they created a wonderful piece of cinema.The real intriguing point that was never addressed or shown throughout the film, but is the main driving force behind the whole story is the pain of losing a father from the daughter.
Before the end credits rolled out, my feeling was "At last a great film from Almodovar with a mesmerizing performance from Emma Suarez as the older Julieta." That feeling, unfortunately, was short lived.
However, Julieta is not an invention, but a reference to three Alice Munro's short stories, which were gathered in one trilogy.Nevertheless, beyond how appropriate and box-office earner for a film based on a Nobel Prize story could be, there is a meeting point that the spectator could feel honest in-between these two languages.
No scenario,no plot, absurd screenplay, absolutely meaningless.You have million other things to do instead of watching this film.If you insist, beware of the upcoming disappointment, I keep wondering how this film got awards.A "cliche" idea given so badly on screen, unbelievable gaps and jumps, and what you get in the end is no answers at all about what happened.Looks like a pile of story fragments, with unrelated and inconsistent characters and correlations.Extremely slow and boring, thank Pedro it was not longer..
Based on three short stories in "Runaway" by Alice Munro: the title character is a resident of Madrid who is suddenly re-stimulated by the pain of having been estranged by her young adult daughter many years ago.
In the current time, Julieta is played by Emma Suarez; in the earlier flashbacks, she is played by Adriana Ugarte.As directed by Pedro Almodovar, this movie is touching in ways that are mysterious, sensuous, and passionate.
With beautiful locations that include Madrid, the Galician coast, and the Pyrenees countryside (and lifestyles of people who end up in places like Portugal, Switzerland, Lake Como, and Milan), the movie allows us non-Europeans to temporarily live vicariously through characters with such good fortune - even if their lives are sad in other ways.By the end, there are some loose ends that are mainly due to some one-dimensional villains whose motives remain unexplained.
I'm assuming that Pedro Almodóvar is making the movie about Julieta but I'm just as interested in Antia.
Yet "Julieta" strikes no nerves anymore as "The Skin I Live In" (2011) did with mask-ripping forces; tensions between the characters kept to an minimum, making the picture a pleasant one-time watch of your standard color balance in production design, leaving me wishing for another breakthrough cinematographic action as cameras hitting asphalt in "All About My Mother" (1999).Sincerely Yours,Felix Alexander Dausend.
Ms. Suarez plays the older Julieta looking back on her life, while Ms. Ugarte populates most of the memories being entered into the journal  a writing effort designed to fill in the life gaps for her long estranged daughter Antia.We learn that Julieta fell in love with fisherman Xoan (Daniel Grao) while his wife was in a coma, and that Antia was conceived before the wife passed away.
Other key players here are the older Julieta's boyfriend Lorenzo (another Almodovar regular Dario Grandinetti) and Antia's special childhood friend Bea (Sara Jimenez) who appears years later (as Michelle Jenner) in a quick appearance that rocks Julieta's world.Guilt, death, love, disappointment, and relationships are all significant pieces to this Almodovar puzzle.
At first sight, the heroine of his new film 'Julieta' is an attractive academic preparing for a quiet retirement, but it's soon revealed her daughter Antia has been missing for more than a decade.
Julieta is another great story telling film by Almodovar.
Adapt delicate writer Alice Munro's three short stories, take her heroine Juliet, and mix with hyperbolic writer-director Pedro Almodovar channeling Alfred Hitchcock, and you have one heck of a romantic thriller, Julieta.
I realize the Spanish setting, not Munro's Canada, turns the screw of lyricism very tight, but it is after all as flamboyant, colorful (full of figurative blood reds) and, female-loving as any other of his films.As we come to know our reasonably-reliable narrator, Julieta (Emma Suarez), we discover a mature but lonely woman whose pain will be incrementally exposed to us but not too soon.
She breaks the linear underpinnings of the story to take us by flashback to her younger self (Adriana Ugarte) and the birth of her eventually-estranged daughter, Antia (Priscilla Delgado, adolescent and Blanca Peres, 18 years old).Almodovar is not in a rush to reveal the toll on Julieta for her daughter's absence, and that is the beauty of this romantic drama, where her pain, loss, and guilt form a seamless portrait of a woman on a journey to self discovery.
Like Odysseus (The Odyssey is alluded to in one of her young teacher sequences), only after serious confrontation with her selfishness and self-centered libido does she see the central role she plays in the seemingly random vicissitudes of life.The sea plays a its lyrical presence as well as its danger (like women): "The unplumbed, salt, estranging sea" Matthew Arnold.While women do the heavy emotional lifting and seem to hold the plot strings, as typical of Almodovar, men are actually prominent players, from a suicidal train passenger across the seat from her and a manly fisherman, Xoan (Daniel Grao) in the dining car to a splendidly-attentive writer, Lorenzo (Dario Grandinetti—reminding me of Frank Langella).
Here two wonderful actresses play the same eponymous character: Adriana Ugarte as the younger, more care-free woman and Emma Suárez as the older, grief-ridden mother trying to come to terms with the sudden disappearance of a loved one (the transition between the two is cleverly executed).
When in Madrid these days, for a cinephile, don't miss the chance to watch Almodóvar's latest drama in the cinema, earlier than its Cannes debut later in May, and there is an afternoon screen with English subtitles catering to Anglophones.Adapted from three short stories from Alice Munro's RUNAWAY and transposed the story to the modern-day Madrid, in the opening Julieta (Suárez) is a middle-aged woman who is going to embark on a new chapter with her boyfriend Lorenzo (Grandinetti), moving to Portugal.
But a chance encounter with Beatriz (Jenner), her daughter Antía's old friend, jolts her to change her mind, she leaves Lorenzo and relocates to the apartment where she and Antía had lived in Madrid, where she unlocks the door of her hidden memories, the past comes rushing in.In the flashback, a young Julieta (Ugarte), at the age of 25, met Antía's father, a then-married fisherman Xoan (Grao) on a night train, they engaged a passionate consummation after witnessing a suicidal incident, Julieta was pregnant.
So back to the present day, after learning about the news of Antía for the first time in 12 years, it is understandable that Julieta cannot make peace with the painful secret, will she finally get the forgiveness from her only daughter?
Or, whether or not she should be blamed?It is a guilt trip for Julieta to stressfully unveil her side of experiences, two deaths, although are not directly caused by her, but somehow, she feels accountable, Munro's judicious dissection of one's inner inquiry about life's capriciousness feels a tad solemn and innately incongruous with Almodóvar's wheelhouse, maybe after his previous outlandishly self-indulgent romp I'M SO EXCITED (2013), he decides to go dead serious this time, only the end product is defective in both witty enlightenment and emotional catharsis when all the plot-line is laid bare.Multi-colored palette is still Amodóvar's unvarying trademark, strewed in the film's contemporary settings and costumes, Suárez and Ugarte are not Amodóvar's regulars, but both shoulder their narrative with engaging gusto, and the requirement of the former's performance is more challenging, and Daniel Grao, presents himself with unabashed allure, but, it is Rossy de Palma as a blunt-talking maid, steals the sole laughters and imprints with a singular mark on how a close-up of her intense stare can summon so many unsaid judgements from her character.JULIETA cleverly ends before heading into a more conventional reconciliation, it all leaves up to audience's own imagination.
Each time the viewer thinks he has reached the reason for Antía's abandonment of Julieta, Almodóvar, who adapted short stories by Canadian Nobel laureate Alice Munro to write the script, delivers another heart-wrenching revelation.
The film stars Adriana Ugarte and Emma Suárez who play the title character during different ages.
Family drama in this case as here it is all about the title character's relationship to her daughter, even if the film ends right away before we see her in the now.
Now he brings us "Julieta", focusing on a mother's guilt.The title character is a middle-aged woman planning to leave Madrid.
notes JULIETA's daughter Antia to her mom during this offering from that knotty director, Pedro Almodovar.