Julieta (), originally titled Silencio, is a 2016 Spanish melodrama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. It is based on "Chance", "Silence", and "Soon", three short stories by Alice Munro from her 2004 collection Runaway. It is Almodóvar's 20th feature, and stars Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte as old and young Julieta, alongside Daniel Grao, Inma Cuesta, Darío Grandinetti, Michelle Jenner, and Rossy de Palma.
The film was released theatrically in Spain on 8 April 2016 by Warner Bros. Pictures to generally positive reviews. It made its international debut at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where it was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or, and was released across the world throughout the remainder of 2016. Julieta grossed over $22 million worldwide.
It was selected by the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards, but did not make the shortlist. It was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, in addition to receiving four nominations for European Film Awards and seven nominations for Goya Awards.
Plot Julieta lives in Madrid and is about to move to Portugal with her boyfriend Lorenzo. In a chance encounter on the street with her daughter Antía's childhood friend Beatriz, she learns that Antía, from whom she has long been estranged, is living in Switzerland and has three children. Overcome by her desire to re-establish contact with Antía, she abandons plans to leave Spain and instead leases an apartment elsewhere in the building in Madrid where she had raised Antía, knowing that address is Antía's only means of contacting her.
Anticipating word from Antía, and aware that she owes her daughter an explanation of the events that led to their separation, Julieta fills a journal with an account of her life as mother, spouse, and daughter. She begins with the story of meeting Xoan, a fisherman and Antía's father. In a flashback, Julieta recounts meeting Xoan on a train, having fled to the restaurant carriage from an older man. He tells her about his life as a fisherman, and his wife who is in a coma. The train stops sharply, having hit the older man, who committed suicide. As Julieta blames herself for his death, Xoan comforts her, and they have sex on the train. Later, at the school at which she works, Julieta receives a letter from Xoan which she takes as an invitation to visit. She learns his wife has recently died and that he is with Ava, a friend. Julieta and Xoan resume their relationship, and she informs him that she is pregnant with his child. Two years later, Julieta and Antía visit Julieta's parents. Her mother is ill and apparently suffering from Alzheimer's disease, at first not recognising her daughter. Her father is having an affair with the maid, to Julieta's chagrin.
While an older Antía is at a summer camp, Xoan and Julieta argue over his occasional dalliances with Ava, prompted by the housekeeper. Julieta storms out to walk and Xoan goes fishing despite the weather. A storm rolls in and, as Julieta watches the news in panic, Xoan's boat capsizes and he is killed. His body is recovered and cremated, and together with Ava she casts Xoan's ashes out over the sea. Rather than call her back for the cremation, Julieta has left Antía at camp where she has become inseparable with a girl named Beatriz from a wealthy family, who invite Antía to leave camp a day early and spend some time with them in Madrid. Julieta then travels to Madrid, to break the news of Xoan's death to her daughter, and rents a flat there. They remain in Madrid, each doing their own thing but without sharing their respective lives, loves and sorrows. At the age of 18, Antía embarks on a spiritual retreat and announces that she will be incommunicado for three months.
When Julieta drives to the location of the retreat in the Pyrenees three months later, she is informed that her daughter has found enlightenment and has already left: she does not want her location disclosed to her mother. Julieta is racked by the loss and her attempts to find Antía are unsuccessful. The only contact she has is a blank card on her 19th, 20th and 21st birthdays, which she recognises with a cake that ends up uneaten in the trash. After the latter she has enough, becomes enraged and destroys most traces of her daughter in her life, including moving from her apartment to escape Antía's memory. Years later she visits Ava, who has multiple sclerosis and is dying. Ava tells her that Antía knew about the argument that precipitated Xoan's death and blamed Julieta and Ava, and that she had ultimately internalised guilt about this because she was away at camp at the time. First in the hospital and then at Ava's funeral, Julieta meets Lorenzo who has had an affair with Ava and has written a book about Ava's art. For some time the two embark on a happy relationship, which distracts Julieta from her loss. She tells him nothing of Antía and he respects that she has some secrets in her life.
Back in the present, Lorenzo has gone to Portugal and Julieta's mental state is deteriorating as she obsessively visits places she used to go to with her daughter. Beatriz happens to recognise her as the two watch young girls play basketball, and reveals that she and Antía had a relationship. The spiritual retreat may have made Antía ashamed of it, and caused her to cut Beatriz out of her life just as she had done with Julieta.
Julieta continues to deteriorate, walking through the city in a dreamlike state. She recognises Lorenzo on the street and, walking toward him, is hit by a car and collapses. Lorenzo takes her to the hospital, and, as she recovers, he goes to pick up items from her flat, which include an unread letter. It is from Antía, who tells her about the death of her 9-year-old son, which has finally allowed her to understand how Julieta must have felt when Antía left without leaving word. She has included a return address, which Lorenzo interprets as an invitation to visit. Lorenzo and Julieta drive to Switzerland and Julieta says she will not demand an explanation, simply wishing to be with her daughter.
Cast
Production Development Julieta marked Almodóvar's 20th feature film. The film was inspired by Chance, Silence and Soon, three short stories from the 2004 book Runaway by Nobel laureate Alice Munro, from whom Almodóvar bought the film rights in 2009. He later said he specifically asked for the rights due to the pivotal scenes that take place on a train: "There is something incredibly passionate about them", he said. "A woman, on a train, and it's very cinematographic". The director admitted that he had not been completely faithful to the source material, but noted the significance of Munro's depiction of family relationships and the links between women, which he believed to be an important part of his adaptation. It is Almodóvar's third film to be based on a foreign-language text, following Live Flesh (1997) and The Skin I Live In (2011). He first titled the film Silencio (), based on the title of one of the short stories, but changed it to Julieta in post-production to avoid confusion with Martin Scorsese's Silence, which was also released in 2016.
Almodóvar originally thought Julieta would serve as his English-language film debut, with American actress Meryl Streep in the lead role, playing three versions of the character at 20, 40 and 60 years old. He met Streep, who agreed to the concept, and found locations in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where Munro based her stories. He also searched for locations in the state of New York, but eventually shelved the idea, unhappy at the prospect of filming in either country and uncomfortable with his ability to write and film in English. Years later, members of his production team suggested that the script should be revisited but, this time, setting the film in Spain and making it in Spanish.
Almodóvar revealed the film's original title, Silencio, in an interview with the Financial Times after attending a preview of the musical of his film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown at the Playhouse Theatre in London, in January 2015. Silence is "the principal element that drives the worst things that happen to the main female protagonist", Almodóvar said. He also stated that the film was a return to drama and his "cinema of women", but claimed that the tone was different from that of his other feminine dramas like The Flower of My Secret (1995), All About My Mother (1999) and Volver (2006). He explained that he had finished the script, but was in the process of casting. In March 2015, Rossy de Palma, who frequently appears in Almodóvar's films, confirmed she had a role in the film, followed by the announcement that Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte were playing the older and younger versions of the film's protagonist. On the employment of two actresses, Almodóvar later said, "I don't trust the effects of make-up for aging, and it's almost impossible for a young woman of 25 to have the presence of someone of 50. It isn't a matter of wrinkles, it's something more profound, the passing of time, on the outside and on the inside". Suárez also revealed that using two actresses was an homage to That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) by Luis Buñuel, in which two actresses also play the same character at different stages in life. El Deseo revealed more casting in March 2015.
In preparation for the film, Almodóvar encouraged Suárez and Ugarte to read The Year of Magical Thinking (2005), a book on mourning by American author Joan Didion, and Other Lives but Mine (2009) by French writer Emmanuel Carrère for inspiration. Almodóvar also recommended Suárez watch Elevator to the Gallows (1958) by Louis Malle and The Hours (2002) by Stephen Daldry, and that she contemplate Lucian Freud's paintings. Suárez also watched Almodóvar's complete filmography and stayed alone in Madrid to prepare for the character. "It's a very tough character. For me it meant going into a pit of darkness where there is abandonment, loneliness and fear", Suárez stated in an interview. She also revealed that the two actresses worked on their versions of the character independently; the couple were only together on set for the train sequence.
Filming On working with the pair, Almodóvar said: "I battled a lot with the actresses' tears, against the physical need to cry. It is a very expressive battle. It wasn't out of reservedness, but because I didn't want tears, what I wanted was dejection – the thing that stays inside after years and years of pain. I adore melodrama, it's a noble genre, a truly great genre, but I was very clear that I didn't want anything epic, I wanted something else. Simply put, this had to be a very dry, tearless film". In an interview with the BBC, Almodóvar said there were comic situations in rehearsals, but he wanted to set the humour aside: "I wanted something more intense; I wanted something cleaner to make sure the message got through". Almodóvar stated that he wanted to create something more austere and restrained than his previous films; he also reflected on the physical pain he had experienced in the past years which he believed to have inspired him to create a piece about solitude.