What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this mature, subtitled Spanish film -- which deals with heavy topics like funerals, incest, and murder -- isn't likely to appeal to most kids. Though these issues are framed by wry comedy, they remain complex. There are repeated references to men's abusiveness, and one lascivious father figure's drunken advances lead a teenage girl to stab him to death (this all happens off screen, but she's plainly traumatized as she tearfully describes it). The result is a very bloody kitchen, which is shown from many camera angles. Efforts to hide the body are comedic but also underline the physical and emotional difficulty of the task. A mother returns as a "ghost," leading to discussions of past acts of violence (including a house being burned down). Language includes one "f--k."
- Families can talk about the film's treatment of trauma and reconciliation within families. How is the ghost a metaphor for the way that the past can haunt the present? How does the movie show that mothers and daughters have special bonds (especially in a town where the men tend to die before their wives)? How does Raimunda come to terms with her mother? Do you think the recurring color red is significant? How? The film's title means "return": What various kinds of returns do you see here? How do you think an American-made film might have handled a similar topic? How is this movie similar to and different from Pedro Almodóvar 's other films?