"Volveréis" is a very original film whose characters don't want to make a fuss about their separation and therefore decide to take it all "the other way around" (by organizing a joyful divorce party on the very first day of autumn).
The film features a revolutionary take on the couple as it turns the mores and stereotypes of a break-up by showing a modern and peaceful relationship between two middle age people.
This film is special because it's witty. It's an anthem to dialogue, to love, to respect. In fact, its main characters barely ever fight or argue. The two of them respect each other at every step of their thinking despite the doubts that rise along the film and that are everywhere, in one look, one word or one take.
The film tackles the uncertainty, this sensation of being at a turning point of one's life and having no clue what to do with it. The film also brings diferent shades of thoughts towards friendship, family and love.
A complex thinking summed up in one simple sentence : "Volveréis".
Like a statement: "Volveréis" (you'll get back together)
Or like a question: "Volveréis ? (are you going to get back together after all?)
Two appreciations of one reality. Just like the verb "volver" which has two meanings: to turn (a leaf) or to return (go back).
No doubt Jonàs Trueba (the director) took it very personnaly as he delivers a reflexive film about being in the film industry for some time, about being a couple after 15 years of relationship, about the middle-age crisis and the doubts all this bring along.
There are many references to Bergman, to Truffaut but also winks to the father of the director (Fernando Trueba, a well-known director himself) who happens to be a key character in this film as he is the father of Ale (the girl) but also the one who had the (freaky) idea of celebrating separations ! It's a reflexive film about being in the film industry for some time, about being a couple after 15 years of relationship, about the middle-age crisis and the doubts all this bring along.
This film is not only very personal as we have just seen, it's also very touching because it overflows with sincerity. You can tell in the way Jonàs Trueba shares his own doubts concerning his own film. For instance, it seems that he shares with us his thinking over the relevance of his film during the edit of the film that the main characters struggle to finish which will trigger some doubts over their fate as a couple or as indiviuals because it will remind them the difficulty they have to finish their own relation.
This circle of repeition implies doubts, uncertainty,and sundenly no one is sure about what he or she should be doing.
To the question: are you happy ? One answers yes and the other says no, but both seem to regret their answer right after prononcing it and both seem to be plunged into some sort of nostalgia.
This melancholic tone matches with the turning point of their lives, as they must turn over a new leaf, start a new chapter, begin a new season exactly like this rather sad, uncertain and ending summer in Madrid.
Awaiting the fall, or fearing the end of something, the frontier is thin and you wonder what decision will be taken.
Little by little, and thanks to the characters' personal journey, we understand that life is like editing a film, and everything could be turned upside down: the beginning can become and end, a seeming end could mean a new beginning, and ending summer can become a bright new fall, and with one's decision it can be all the other way around.
A beautiful, sometimes funny, constantly witty film, with lots of winks. I recommend !
