This Palme d'Or contestant does not reflect Almodovar's penchant for gender-bending, or his often convoluted scripts. However, it retains his female-centric theme. As "Julieta" is very much event-driven, I shall take the liberty of giving it chapter titles. The prologue shows Julieta on the verge of cleansing any thought of her daughter Antia who has gone missing for over a decade. Then she bumps into Antia's teenage-days buddy Beatrice who has in turn recently bumped into Antia, now a mother of three. This triggers Julieta's writing letters to her missing daughter (with nowhere to send) to tell her things she had not been told before. The main body of the movie is flashbacks based on these letters.
1. STRANGERS ON THE TRAIN. Julieta is seventeen. The first stranger is a middle-age man who tries to strike up a conversation, which turns her away. The second is young fisherman Xoan she encounters in the dining car, reminding you of Celine and Jessie. But circumstances are different as Xoan has a wife who is in a coma. There is distinct Hitchcockian mood here when the train comes to an abrupt halt. Despite the engineer's categorical denial, the train did hit something. When it turns out that it is the successful suicide attempt of the middle-age man, Julieta suffers a sudden pang of guilt while Xoan comforts her. They end up making love on the train.
2. DOMESTICITY BLISS. A few months later, a letter from Xoan announcing his wife's demise brings Julieta to his village, when she has news for him too: she is pregnant. Antia is born healthy and beautiful.
3. MOTHER'S HELPER. In a side-plot, Julieta brings Antia on a short trip to visit her parents (father just retired and mother an invalid). Turns out that the old couple has hired a young and attractive live-in helper who, in addition to taking care of her mother, also takes care of her father, in a different way. But since Julieta has her own life, in a different city, there isn't much she can do.
4. UNDERCURRENTS. There are two characters with significance surrounding Xoan. Marian is the dominating matron-type part-time helper who for obvious reasons display immediate hostility towards Julieta. On the other hand, Ava, a sculpture artist, Xoan's long-time friend, is genuinely friendly. When Julieta eventually fires Marian, the latter intimates, through innuendos, that Ava is Xoan's ex-lover and the two still have rendezvous occasionally.
5. TRAGEDY HITS. During a 3-week period when teenage Antia is at camp, Julieta confronts Xoan about Ava, which may or may not be the reason he seeks refuge on a fishing trip, gets caught in a sudden storm and drowns. In the meantime, Antia at camp meets Beatrice (who appeared in the prologue) and the pair becomes instantly inseparable. This ended up with Antia going to spend some time at Beatrice's affluent house immediately after camp, necessitating Julieta's going there to announce the tragic news of her father's untimely death.
6. WIDOWED. Mother and daughter move to an apartment and continue their life without a man-in-the-house as Julieta accepts another undesirable reality that she has to share her daughter's affection with Beatrice. After high school, however, Beatrice seeks her career in New York while Antia goes to a secluded retreat for three months as in interlude before university.
7. DISAPPEARANCE. Julieta drives all the way to pick up Antia, only to be told that her daughter does not want to see her and has gone on to seek her own fulfillment. She lives through hell for a few years, hearing only once from Antia, a blank birthday card on the latter's own birthday.
8. TYING UP LOOSE ENDS. Upon visiting Ava (Multiple Sclerosis) Julieta finds more clue about Antia's leaving, but nothing conclusive. More importantly, she meets Ava's friend Lorenzo, and the two ended up "giving a reason for each other's existence". This brings the timeline backs to the opening prologue when Julieta bumps into Beatrice. That happens again some time later, with more revelation from Beatrice. The conclusion comes as a letter from Antia with nothing that can really be called a twist.
I may have used up all the allowed space and this turns out to be sort of a synopsis. So very quickly: great acting, good story-telling, engaging scenes – a somewhat different Almodovar, but still quite recognizable.
13 out of 15 found this helpful