On the sixty- third episode of All the Film Things, Anne Hockens, the Director of Communications for the Film Noir Foundation, *returns* to join me in analyzing Pedro Almodóvar’s 2006 comedy/ drama film Volver! This episode is spoiler- filled.

Volver marks the first and only time Almodóvar’s two muses, Penélope Cruz and Carmen Maura, shared the screen. The film revolves around sisters Raimunda (Cruz) and Sole (Lola Dueñas) living in Madrid who are first seen cleaning their parents' gravestones in a communal tradition. Shortly after, both sisters are forced to handle the loss of two family members separately. Raimunda does everything in her power to provide for and keep Paula safe while Sole is reunited with her mother (Maura), who was presumed to be dead.

The Film Noir Foundation will be holding their highly- anticipated first Noir City Film Festival in NYC beginning this Friday, July 10 and concluding on July 19 at the Paris Theater. Over those nine days, 32 noir films will be screened and you can purchase tickets by going to ParisTheaterNYC.com. The next episode of “Ask Eddie”, the biweekly video podcast hosted by Anne and Eddie Muller, will be streaming live tomorrow night at 7 pm PST/ 10 pm EST on the Film Noir Foundation Facebook page and will be available to watch on the Noir City YouTube channel the next day. Learn more about all that’s going on with the foundation from upcoming Noir City film festivals to how to donate and help their efforts to restore films to Ask Eddie by going to their Facebook page and FilmNoirFoundation.org.

This is Anne’s third, but really second, appearance on ATFT! Anne’s debut appearance on All the Film Things was back in November to discuss Double Indemnity, click here to listen to that episode. Anne, in a very rare move, was a part of the stellar ensemble of guests in the previous episode joining me in paying tribute to Marilyn Monroe (you can click here to listen to that episode). These two episodes were recorded on the same day so, while the Marilyn tribute was released first, this was really her second appearance (which is also why this episode is shorter than usual). Anne is a delight and has already become one of my very favorite people to discuss film with. Between having having a wonderful time talking about Double Indemnity and knowing she is a fellow Almodóvar fan, I knew we had to discuss one of his masterpieces in our next episode together. This episode was recorded on May 28, 2026.

In this episode, Anne and I talk about attempt to do the impossible by figuring out where Volver ranks amongst our favorite Almodóvar films, how Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry inspired Almodóvar in a key point in the film, and our favorite darkly comedic moments. Anne also shares her experience seeing the film in theaters twenty years ago while I compared Blanca Portillo’s character Agustina to her character Judit in Broken Embraces. All this and much more on the latest episode of All the Film Things!

Music Credit:

Music by https://pixabay.com/users/notprod-30440357/?utm_source=link- attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=158150">NotProd from https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link- attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=158150">Pixabay