#366 - Pedro Almodóvar, Penélope Cruz & Milena Smit on Parallel Mothers

On today’s episode of our daily NYFF59 podcasts, NYFF Director Eugene Hernandez sits down with director Pedro Almodóvar and cast members Penélope Cruz and Milena Smit to discuss Parallel Mothers, the Closing Night selection of the 59th New York Film Festival. In this muted contemporary melodrama, two women, a generation apart, find themselves inextricably linked by their brief time together in a maternity ward. The circumstances that brought them to the Madrid hospital are quite different—one accidental, the other traumatic—and a secret, hiding the truth of the bond that connects these two, is a powerful story that tackles a deep trauma in Spanish history. Penélope Cruz’s Janis is a uniquely complex, flawed, but ultimately alluring lead character, who finds herself in a morally and emotionally treacherous situation. She’s viewed in contrast with Ana, radiantly portrayed by newcomer Milena Smit, a discovery who brings a palpable innocence, pain, and longing to this interwoven portrait of women and motherhood. These charismatic stars inhabit characters who are singular among those drawn by Almodóvar in a career defined by striking portraits of women. A Sony Pictures Classics release. Learn more about NYFF59 at filmlinc.org/nyff