Based on three stories by Alice Munro, Almodóvar’s most recent film finds the great director in an autumnal mood, stripping away his more manic and surreal touches to linger instead on intimacy and solitude in a mother’s life. With a successful career and attentive lover, the middle-aged Julieta (Emma Suárez) still has a sorrow she cannot share. An unexpected letter triggers a breakdown, and an emotional journey back to a past filled with both love and loss. Combining Munro’s muted minimalism with Almodóvar’s more expansive aesthetic, Julieta is “a haunting and hypnotic tribute to both their talents” (Rolling Stone).