Claudio Carvalho In Madrid, the middle-aged Julieta (Emma Suárez) is packing her books to move to Portugal with her boyfriend Lorenzo (Dario Grandinetti). She goes shopping for the journey and stumbles upon Bea (Michelle Jenner), who was the best friend of her missing daughter Antia. They talk to each other and Bea discloses that Antia is married with three children. Julieta decides to stay in Madrid; breaks with Lorenzo; and rents an apartment in her former building, hoping that Antia contacts her. She decides to write the heartbreaking story of her life since she was a young woman and met her beloved future husband and Antia´s father Xoan (Daniel Grao) until the losses of Xoan and Antia. "Julieta" is a dramatic romance by Pedro Almodóvar in a conventional style totally different from most of his previous works, since it is neither tacky nor aggressive to the Catholic Church; and using neither bright colors nor bizarre characters. Indeed it is a mature work disclosing the story of a middle-aged depressed woman that has her life affected for the loss of her beloved husband first and the last twelve years for the disappearance of her eighteen year-old daughter. The most important, the powerful drama never becomes a melodramatic soap-opera. The screenplay is very well-written with a perfect open end and magnificent cast. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Julieta"

sergicaballeroalsina It's true, Julieta is Almodóvar's least hysterical movie. The most atypical. The post-punk look is just anecdotal and its characters are not the heroines to which we are used to. It is a narratively mature drama, harmonious, with an air of Greek tragedy and terrible myth that goes through the film. It is about weak women, fragile women, broken women. The melancholic light and Hopper's colour palette create a very suitable scenario where this family drama unfolds. The movie keeps a very determined narrative tone and is a very enjoyable aesthetic experience. The loneliness and the pain caused by the passage of time are the real main characters of the film. The depression and the unbearable guilt as well. And the spleen of the Atlantic. And the emptiness.

aphrodisiaciix The story is not unique, but the way it was told and unfolded, coupled with the superb performance and the aesthetic visuals, all together they created a wonderful piece of cinema.The real intriguing point that was never addressed or shown throughout the film, but is the main driving force behind the whole story is the pain of losing a father from the daughter. We only see the pain of losing a husband from the mother and her suffering for losing a daughter. And again, there was no showing of the daughter's suffering with the lost of her own son (which only briefly mentioned in a letter).The title of the movie should be something else that more alluring and interesting than what it is. It would help much more with the international audiences and create more interest than just "Julieta", which is a very plain and ordinary name without a clue about the story.

Paul Allaer "Julieta' (2016 release from Spain; 96 min.) brings the story of the title character. As the movie opens, we see Julieta boxing up her books. We learn that Julieta and her boyfriend Lorenzo are planning to move from Madrid to Portugal. Later by happenstance Julieta runs into Bea on the street, a childhood friend of Antia, Julieta's daughter. Julieta is astonished to hear from Bea that Antia has 3 kids now, and we learn that Juleta in fact is completely estranged from Antia. Hearing this news shocks Julieta and she decides to stay in Madrid, and move back into the building where she raised Antia. Julieta starts a long letter to Antia, and in a flashback we go back in time to where it all began for Julieta. At this point we're 10 min. into the movie. What is it that drove Antia apart from Julieta? To tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is the latest from writer-director Pedro Almodóvar (the opening credits show it as simply "un film de Almodóvar--never mind that there are two Almodóvars: this Pedro, and his brother Agustin). Pedro has had a lot of ups and downs in his illustrious career, although really more ups than downs (and winning two Oscars along the way). Here he adapts several short stories from Canadian author Alice Munro to bring a complex portrait of a woman struggling mightily with being estranged by her own daughter. The movie plays out in 2 levels: the present (where Julieta is played by Emma Suarz, and the past, where the younger Julia is played by Adriana Ugarte). Almodóvar keeps moving the story forward at a nice clip but never rushes. There are several outstanding scenes. The train sequence near the beginning reminded me of Hitchcock, no kidding. But ultimately this is a movie about guilt (how to create it and how to deal with it) and a sense of doubt. Kudos to the two lead actresses for this multi-layered portrayal."Julieta" opened to great acclaim at last year's Cannes Film Festival, and I couldn't wait to see it. It finally opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Saturday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended okay but not great (maybe 10 people in total). That is a darn shame. If you are in the mood for a quality foreign movie that brings a rich and nuanced portrait about a mother-daughter relationship gone awry, you cannot go wrong with this, be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. "Julieta" is a WINNER.