Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
Volver is the latest film by the Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. Almodovar is known for his strong female characters and his unusual stories that capture universal themes on life, love, loss and triumph.
Spanish actress Penelope Cruz won both the Golden Globe and the Cannes Film Festival awards for Best Actress. But this is not her first success. She has appeared in numerous films, in English, French, Italian and, of course, Spanish.
Listen to Marni and Kevin chat about Volver.
3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
Kevin |
Marni: So I saw Volver the other day.
Kevin: Ooh! What did you think?
Marni: Oh, I loved it. I was…
Kevin: It’s wonderful.
Marni: Yes.
Kevin: It’s so well done.
Marni: It is very well done. And I read this article where it was talking about Penelope Cruz and how wonderful it is to see her act in her native language. And I thought about it and it was. It was so different because I feel like in every other American movie, you’re just seeing her speak in English with her cute accent…
Kevin: Yeah.
Marni: But this one, she really had a lot of oomph.
Kevin: It’s… She, she does wonderfully and I’m really glad she’s been nominated for the Academy Award...
Marni: Mm hm.
Kevin: Because she deserves it. I mean, she’s a wonderful actress.
Marni: She is.
Kevin: But in English, she tends to have very stereotypical roles.
Marni: Exactly. I agree.
Kevin: Um, kind of, the sexy immigrant, if you will, right?
Marni: Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin: So I think it’s a really interesting movie. And if you’re into, like, how things are shot, like, the camera angles are very, are very interesting and not the typical Hollywood-style so it’s…
Marni: Yeah. The, uh, up… upward camera looking down on her breasts.
Kevin: Mm hm. Yeah.
Marni: Very nice.
Kevin: While she’s cleaning the, uh,...
Marni: The knife, very seductively.
Kevin: Very nice. Yeah.
Marni: Yeah.
Kevin: It’s a really a really well-done movie. I hope it… I hope she wins the Oscar.
Marni: Yeah.
Kevin: We’ll see.
Marni: We’ll have to see. She’s got some stiff competition.
Kevin: Definitely.
Quizzes
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Discussion
Kevin and Marni both thought Volver was great.
Marni says it is a different experience to see Penelope Cruz act in her native language.
Kevin agrees. He points out that many of her English roles are pretty stereotypical.
Kevin thinks the cinematography in the film is very interesting as well.
Both Kevin and Marni wonder if Penelope Cruz might win the Oscar. But this conversation happened before the Academy Awards. We now know that she did not win. But she won other awards for her role in this film.
Have you seen Volver or any other Almodovar films?
Click here for an English lesson on another Almodovar film
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