Layers of Womanhood in Almodovar’s Volver: The Representation of Raimunda

Layers of Womanhood in Almodovar’s Volver: The Representation of Raimunda as a Wife, Mother, and Daughter in Volver.
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“Layers of Womanhood in Almodovar’s Volver: The Representation of Raimunda as a Wife, Mother, and Daughter in Volver”
Introduction
Since its inception, Spanish cinema has survived and thrived on patriarchal themes. The traditions revolved around portraying women more as ‘objects’ in a way that pleases and reinforces the dominance of men than ‘subjects’ who may have their voice and potential to rise with the occasion (Martín-Márquez 1999). However, a Spanish film director, Pedro Almodovar, pulls himself apart from time-honoured cinematic norms and strives to change the ways in which viewers make sense of the beauty, pleasure, justice, and particularly, the role of women in society. His differentiated resolve manifests itself in its entirety in his masterpiece “Volver,” a film released in 2006.
The story of Volver revolves around four female characters, including Irene, Raimunda, Paula, and Sole. Irene is Raimunda’s mother, while Paula and Sole (two sisters) are Raimunda’s daughters. Irene is suspected of having died in a fire outbreak, which proves to be a misconception as the plot advances. Raimunda is not much grieved at the alleged death of her mother since there has been severe acrimony between Irene and Raimunda. Raimunda was raped by her father and, as a result, conceived Paula, who is both her daughter and sister. Paula’s non-biological father attempts to rape her, but Paula resists and kills him. Raimunda helps Paula hide the crime by concealing her husband’s dead body. Later on, as Sole visits Alcanfor de las Infantas (an old village) to participate in the death ritual of her aunt, she discovers that her grandmother, Irene is alive and is hiding in her car. She shares the discovery with Paula, but they keep the secret from Raimunda since she harbours intense hatred against her mother. As the story progresses, Irene succeeds in convincing Raimunda of being unmindful of her molestation by her husband and reconciling with her by recounting how she killed her husband. Hence, all characters mend their old rifts, and the ending features their triumphant rise from the pressing circumstances to a stable and balanced life. The story at its best challenges the patriarchal affiliations of Spanish cinema as well as the feminist theories are suggesting that cinema is meant to portray women as objects of pleasure; even though in subtle ways and at specific points, the director fails to distance from the male gaze and traditionally coded objectification.
This paper aims to analyze the central character of the movie Raimunda concerning its diverse functioning, focusing on its role as a wife, mother, and daughter. The analysis is conducted using a range of psychoanalytic lenses and theories dealing with traditions of Spanish cinema.
Raimunda as a Wife
Raimunda marries a drunk man, Paco, who is portrayed as a good-for-nothing fellow for whom his personal indulgences take precedence over people’s desires in his circle of relation. In his manners, he resembles the selfish bent of Irene’s husband and tries to repeat the same act of molestation with Paula that Irene’s husband inflicts at Raimunda, leading to Paula’s conception (Volver 2006). Hence, Raimunda remains deprived of the true pleasure of marital bonds.
Despite being mindful of her husband’s selfishness and disloyalty, Raimunda leaves no stone unturned to satisfy his desires. She remains faithful and sincere and tries to mend his ways (Volver 2006). This part of her character is in line with the traditional cinematic norms of patriarchy-oriented Spanish cinema. It depicts Raimunda close to a slave until she assumes the female agency and begins to refuse her husband’s advances that sound detestable to her (Pérez 2021). For example, she refuses to have sexual intercourse with him at one stage. Another scene that hints at the feministic part of her personality is where she refuses when Paco, already excessively drunk, asks her to serve yet another glass of drink (Volver 2006). However, she was characterized by ambivalence, whereas during the initial phases of the plot, the softer side of her wifehood remains dominant. Woolf describes her depiction in these words:
“She [the perfect wife] was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed daily. If there was a chicken, she took the leg; if there was a draught, she sat in it ... Above all, she was pure (Woolf 1996, p. 285).
According to Epps and Kakoudaki (2009), the initial part of the movie presents Raimunda as an archetype of the conventional framing of an ideal Spanish woman. Her sacrificial spirit reflects her conformity with the social stereotypes. However, the foreshadowing of a turnaround was evident since the onset as Raimunda kept sparingly expressing her dissent. The examples of these foreshadowing and earlier signs of her anticipated development into a rebel are scattered through the earlier part of the plot, such as refusal to entertain her husband’s every single demand and resisting his advances when not in a mood.
Peculiar elements of Raimunda’s portrayal are also reminiscent of Italian neorealism that was a shift away from angelic beauty and focused on depicting the working-class in its realistic form. The movement instigated a trend of staring at characters from the mainstream and suspending the judgment of beauty and class (Wagstaff 2008). It led to the inclusion of ordinary people with all their socioeconomic challenges (Christopher 2007). In the earlier plot phase, Raimunda is the archetype of the working class and a woman dependent on her husband and holding respect for her social norms. She submits to the will of her husband and obeys him.
One of the significant aspects of Raimunda’s character reflecting in her the elements of neorealism is that she belongs to the working class and struggles to meet both ends meet. She strives to make up for her husband’s deficiencies towards Paula’s upbringing and acts as a bread-earner. Irrespective of being unrewarded, she continues to struggle to keep her family stable and protected.
Even though the elements of Italian neo-realism are visible, Almodovar, in an interview, hints at how he deviated from certain USPs of the movement. For example, he believes that the Italian Maggiorate was focused on giving the suffering woman an ugly look. However, he had a strong urge not to associate suffering with ugliness or prostitution. As he remarks, “Right from the start, I thought of the “Italian maggiorate” from the 1950s because here, the traditional image of a housewife is closer to ugliness than it is to beauty. I didn’t want Penelope to look ugly. Not all the girls who suffer at home have to be ugly or prostitutes” (D’Ursi 2006). He deviated from Italian neo-realism to make Raimunda and Irene look charming. The director attempts to dignify the suffering and give a protagonist view of the sufferers. Therefore, despite being situated in unfavourable circumstances, Raimunda’s demeanour remains unaffected.
However, there is another perspective relevant to Raimunda’s obedience to Paco, which is ‘subordination.’ It appeals to the traditional viewers to relate it to their widespread societal norms and stereotypes where women are supposed to play a passive role (Martin-Márquez & Assistant Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Susan Martin-Marquez, 1999). The scene where Raimunda prepares food for Paco while lounging himself on a sofa and watching a football match offers a glimpse of her subordination (Volver 2006). It aligns with the patriarchal mindset. On the contrary, women are to adopt rather than create the meanings (Haskell 1999). In this way, the earlier phase of the movie where Raimunda remains an ‘object’ rather than a ‘subject’ is likely to resonate with the audience with a traditional mindset.
However, the movie’s discourse changes when Raimunda undergoes the process of self-discovery. Anxiety arouses in her as she watches her husband engaging in unethical activities. It peaks as she discovers that Paco tries to assault her daughter. She does not feel grieved when her daughter informs her of killing Paco in retaliation. Instead, she covers up Paula by helping her hide Paco’s body (Volver 2006). At this stage, as theorized by Wardrop, female agency manifests the full extent of itself (Wardrop 2011; Sezen et al., 2020; Hollinger, 2012). The scene where she soaks her husband’s blood is symbolic of the extent of dissociation to which women can rise once they subscribe to the feminist approach. According to Triana-Toribio (2012), the act shows that considerable mysteries can be lost to sponge, like her husband’s blood. This display of female agency is removed from the stereotypes attached to traditional Spanish women having their identities built around hyper-sensitivity, fear, subordination, and passivity (Triana-Toribio 2012). Fearlessness and confidence make her appear a source of inspiration while seen from a feminist perspective.
The Paco’s murder and Raimunda’s indifference to widowhood are unconventional angles to look at a wife. It revolves around the patriarchal thought pattern where women are supposed to mourn over the death of their husband and feel devastated and helpless irrespective of deceased behaviour and moral issues (Perriam & Professor of Hispanic Studies Chris Perriam 2003; Nouselles 2010). Raimunda rises above these norms and shows the audience that retribution takes precedence over womanhood as understood through traditional yardsticks (Epps & Kakoudaki 2009; Deveny 2019). Through the strength of her character, she demonstrates that women have fair chances of survival and can cope with the challenges of life independent of their male counterparts, especially when they are as unworthy as Paco.
Raimunda’s vengeance is also unconventional and justifiable at the same time. She had gone through the bitter experience of being molested by her father. The psychological implications drawn from that experience are reflected in her treatment of Paco’s death. A traditional viewer may frown at the scene where Raimunda is engaged in hiding her husband’s body in a freezer. The surrealistic impact of such a scene is rooted in the patriarchal view of society that is hardwired in the typical viewers’ mentality (Martín-Márquez 1999). Raimunda stands apart from the hyper-apprehensive group of women whose meanings of life depend on their male counterparts’ perspectives to them. She is determined to improve her life and fixates all her hopes on her daughters (Labanyi 2015; Kappelhoff 2015). Therefore, she is far from a typical Spanish wife and an inspiration for the feministic view of wifehood.
A reflection of the feministic view of a wife is also visible in the cinematic techniques adopted by the director. For example, the image below is taken from the scene when Raimunda is engaged in cleaning the blood and packing Paco’s body after Paula had killed him:
(Ak 2021)
In the foreground, Raimunda is shown to be raising the knife used to kill her husband before her vengeful eyes, staring at it with hatred washing over her face. All these elements are accentuated with the use of red colour that, in the cinematic lexicon, stands for passion and power (Pavlovic et al. 2009; Herrera 2013). It is a socially nonconforming depiction of a wife standing firm close to the dead body of her husband covered in blood. She is not afraid of consequences or of the thought of having to spend her life in the absence of her husband. In this way, the director stages a coded protest against stereotypes associated with women in Spanish society (Barkhoff & Leerssen 2021). Subtly, Almodovar shows his support for the feminist frame of thought that defines a woman as having their voice and thought (Martin-Márquez 2004; Smith 2000). Based on the perception reached through this angle, it is safe to assert that Raimunda as a wife is a symbol of strength and display of possibilities arising when female agency immerses itself into wifehood.
Based on the insights gleaned from the analysis, it is evident that Raimunda as a wife is a dynamic and round character that goes up the ladder of self-awareness and self-discovery until resolution sets in. She starts as a conventional depiction of a wife, partially impressed by neo-realism. However, her rape by her father foreshadowed what unfolded as the transformation of her character from an innocent and subordinated wife to a bold and courageous widow on a mission to pave the path to a better life for herself and her daughter (Barkhoff & Leerssen 2021). Her wifehood conformed to the traditions, but it was not unconditional similar to how the same is usually depicted in cinema. She had the subjective stance that she unleashes after her husband disappears from the scene. Her vengeance, passion, power, strength, potential to live an independent life, and courage make up a rare feministic wife material (Barkhoff & Leerssen 2021). Therefore, it is safe to conclude that Raimunda as a wife is more of a revolt against the traditional conception of wifehood in Spanish cinema, emphasizing the need for freedom and independence.
Raimunda as a Mother
Raimunda’s character as a mother dominates all other functional dimensions of her role. As discussed earlier, she has been a sympathetic and loyal wife for a considerable plot length. However, the sympathy and sacrificial spirit emanating from other motherhood stand apart. An intimate understanding of her bond with Paula and Sole suggests that her role is a delicate blend of social conformity and alienation (Volver 2006; Sánchez & Weston 2017). However, at the core of her role as a mother, she is passionate, caring, and adorable.
Paul Julian describes the intensity of her motherhood in these words:
“[Raimunda was] the latest in the long line of Almodóvar’s tenacious and inventive mothers, risking all for a beloved daughter, Paula” (Shirali 2020).
This description sits nicely on the motherhood mould filled by Raimunda, who goes to any length to protect her daughters. Unlike her mother, Irene, she realizes the ill-founded motives of her husband and makes all the arrangements to protect her daughters from the fate that was inflicted upon her by her father. On various occasions, she is shown to be dictating her daughters to be independent and courageous in the face of all the unfavourable odds (Volver 2006). She is the emblem of a mother who is never unwilling to risk her life if it can bring delight in her daughters’ life.
Her sacrificial spirit comes to the fore in its purest essence when she commits to saving her daughter after killing Paco to foil his rape attempt. She advises, ““Recuerdo que fui quien lo mató y tu no vistes nada porque estabas en la calle… es muy importante que recuerdes esto.” [Remember it was I that killed him and you didn’t see anything because you were in the streets… is very important that you remember this] (Volver 2006). It was an intense moment because Paula was unsure of her mother’s reaction upon learning about Paco’s murder. She is ready to accept the consequences of the murder by pretending to act as the killer if the fact becomes known. It is the purity of her essence of the mother that makes Almodovar confess, “he never felt closer to his mother than when shooting Volver (Smith 2000, p. 527).” It shows that she strives to protect her daughter and is not reluctant to sacrifice her life in this endeavor.
In this context, it is worth mentioning that Raimunda’s character and her relationship with her daughter is also a protest against the phallocentric view of the relationship. Phallocentrism had long ruled the Spanish cinema for it being in a complete consonance of the male-dominated structure of Spanish society. Men were shown to be the linchpin, and relations were understood concerning the Phallus (male organ of reproduction) (Faulkner 2004; Zecchi 2007). For example, Raimunda’s daughter Paula resulted from Raimunda’s rape by her father. However, she was never recognized as the daughter of Raimunda’s father. Instead, she borrowed her identity from Raimunda, which was Raimunda’s daughter alone with no reference to the sexual intercourse between Raimunda and her father. Even though at one stage Irene brings to light how Paula is both a “sister” and a “daughter” to Raimunda, Raimunda never approves or indicates such duality (Volver 2006; D’Lugo & Vernon 2013). She is purely a mother and identifies Paula only as her daughter irrespective of the role of Phallus.
In this way, motherhood defies the phallocentric definition of relationship. The narrative is at divergence from the phallocentric view of the relationship, the adulteration of which might have robbed Raimunda’s motherhood of the purity of its essence (Ott & Mack 2010; Tzioumakis & Molloy 2016). However, this was never the case, and the viewers also become oblivious of Paula’s origin and, as the events unfold, recognize Paula as Raimunda’s natural daughter. It shows the director’s bent to re-conceptualize people’s judgment about relations. Spiritual affiliations are raised above the biological definitions in which the Spanish society and cinema were heavily invested (Evans et al. 1999). Raimunda’s motherhood is sublime despite being based on the loss of her chastity according to the wide-held social belief.
Furthermore, the love that Raimunda holds for bother her daughters and the solidarity that offshoots from that bond and that of Irene with her. It is one of the most dominating themes of the story. The solidarity among women weaved in motherhood is a rare cinematic depiction (Glenn 2002). In a patriarchal society like Spain, a mother’s indiscriminate love and affiliation with her daughters holds a profound message. The director has deliberately reserved insignificant screen time for male characters in an attempt to highlight and dignify the solidarity among mothers and daughters (Farrelly 2017). This solidarity reaches its peak as Irene reunites with her family, and all members reconcile, leaving their rifts behind.
Another critical element in Raimunda’s character as a mother is realism. The director has avoided the melodramatic pattern and has focused more on dignified and adorable actions than emotionally appealing intense dialogues. For instance, Paula and Raimunda are in a solid bond of love, but they do not open up too much about their feelings. Raimunda’s affection and love have exposition in how she protects her daughter. The events unfold naturally, and the exchange of remarks between Raimunda and her daughters is well-calculated (Pratter 2015). Raimunda is mindful of her daughters’ vulnerability and repeatedly advises them to be courageous to cope with their challenges.
Furthermore, she stands apart from the traditional understanding of motherhood, which follows conventional wisdom. She has gone through sexual violence and all bitter experiences, the trauma of which keeps haunting her action. It is visible in the scenes when she is shown to be hyper-cautious towards protecting her daughters (Sánchez-Arce 2020). The viewers are left wondering if it is a mother’s responsibility to protect her children from the sexual abuse by their fathers. However, the answer lies in the strange set of circumstances in which Raimunda is placed. Her hatred against her mother is also rooted in her assumed failure of her mother to shield her against the illicit advances of her father (Volver 2006). Therefore, the trauma lying at the base of her thought pattern justifies her possessiveness towards her daughters. This is the extreme display of “female agency,” as Wardrop (2011) illustrated. Raimunda is the product of her circumstances, and her role from a psychoanalytical standpoint makes sense despite challenging the traditional stereotypes of motherhood concerning daughters.
Raimunda as a Daughter
As a daughter, Raimunda’s life has been embroiled in trauma and uneasiness stemming from her prolonged unresolved misperception of her mother. As mentioned, her father was drunk and lecherous. He raped her multiple times, resulting in Paula’s birth as both her sister and daughter simultaneously (Volver 2006). Unorthodox advances of Raimunda’s father towards her are disturbing to the audience and an attack by the director to the man-dominance. Raimunda’s exploitation is symbolic in the sense that it shows the degree to which men are likely to abuse their freedom in a society where women’s role is reduced to being an object (Ros & Hazbun 2014; Hopewell 1986). Raimunda’s vulnerability is evident from how easily his father gratified his evil sexual desires using her as a ploy.
Almodovar brings into the limelight through Raimunda’s exploitation the consequences of weak female agency. It conforms to the idea that women, in all their permutations, including as a dau...