(2006; Spanish) A ghost story by filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar begins with Raimunda (Penélope Cruz), her daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo), and her sister Soledad (Lola Dueñas) scrubbing the headstone of their mother's grave, a tradition in the village of La Mancha region of Spain where they grew up. (The title in Spanish means "to return to a place.")

The sisters visit their frail and nearly blind Aunt Paula who curiously has an exercise bike and offers them fresh-baked wafers. Aunt Paula's neighbor Agustina, who smokes pot, frets over the disappearance of her mother three years earlier. The village is infamous for having the highest percentage in Spain of insane among its population.

Both sisters reside in Madrid, Sole alone (separated from her husband) and Raimunda with her 14-year-old daughter and husband Paco. Modern windmills and cell phones seem to be ubiquitous as a contrast to the old ways of the village.

The day after Paco informs Raimunda of having been fired, she finds him lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor; Paula tearfully confesses to her mother Paco's attempt at rape and her stabbing him. Raimunda takes advantage of the nearby restaurant her friend Emilio owns for depositing the body into a deep freezer; Emilio, who must change residences, has entrusted her with the keys to use for showing the building to prospective buyers.

With a little help from her female friends, including a prostitute, Raimunda eventually transports the freezer to a distant location and buries it. Meanwhile Agustina calls to inform Sole of Aunt Paula's death; Sole attends the funeral alone because Raimunda says she cannot go.

In the village Sole sees Irene, her mother's ghost; Agustina tells the gathered mourners of how spirits sometimes return if they have an incomplete task in life, which the living may help accomplish for them to find peace.

When Sole returns to Madrid, she finds her mother stowed away in the trunk of her car. While Raimunda uses Emilio's restaurant to make money serving food to a film crew for a few weeks, Sole operates an illegal beauty salon in her home with her mother disguised as a Russian assistant.

Agustina calls Raimunda to say she's in the hospital with cancer and begs a favor, asking Raimunda to ask Irene whether her mother is alive or dead. Raimunda, who has not seen her mother, thinks Agustina is crazy. But a connection between Agustina's mother and Raimunda's parents will be revealed as well as the cause of Irene's return to ask forgiveness from her daughter.

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