Julieta

Middle-aged Julieta (Suarez) is all set to leave Madrid for Portugal to start a new life when a chance encounter with her estranged daughter's best friend encourages her to confront loose ends. She sits down to pen a letter to her daughter Antia, getting into the nitty-gritty of the previous twelve years and the events that led to her daughter's decision to remove herself from mother's life. In flashback we see the younger Julieta (Urgate) meeting Anita’s future father (Grao) on a train and embark on a passionate affair, one that will be dogged by tragedy…

Far weightier than the Spanish director's last outing, the throwaway I’m So Excited, Julieta, adapted from Alice Munro's Canada-set short stories, deals with meaty themes like guilt and grief. But the tone is so flat, so uninvolving that it’s hard to care one way or another. What does pull one in is the colours on display.

Almodóvar's striking visuals are at play again; the screen pops with vibrant colours with red dominating which, along with the ominous soundtrack, help instil Julieta with a sense of foreboding (Julieta teaching Greek tragedy is a typical Almodóvar knowing nod). Scenes regularly play out in front of red walls, characters wear red t-shirts, red earrings, the red seats on the train – the backdrop is typically doused in blood red. In one gorgeous aerial shot a bright red car winds its way through mountains of forest green.

For a such a visual director it’s odd then that Almodóvar continually lets the exposition-heavy dialogue do all the heavy lifting. Despite the central mystery – what events could have transpired to stop this woman and her daughter from speaking for twelve years? – there is no similar shadow to explore with the characters. They are open books because, typical of Almodóvar, everyone perpetually talks about what they're feeling and thinking. There's no subtext. Everything is laid out. The episodic narrative is forever playing catch-up: in jumping forward years at a time characters who haven't met in years (although they were together on screen a minute ago), have to sit down and tell each other about everything that has happened in the interim. And then on to the next episode. It doesn't make for exciting storytelling.

Fans will once again be on board regardless but Julieta, with its rambling made-for-TV soap opera narrative, the self-awareness, and characters who fail to illicit any interest, won't pull in any converts.