UN film de Almodovar: four words that inevitably trigger a sense of anticipation among arthouse types. For roughly 35 years, Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar has been a much-admired source of movies that typically run the gamut of emotions from farce and comedy to melodrama and dark tragedy - sometimes all within the same film - featuring conventional characters as well as those proudly perched on the margins of society.

An Almodovar film is readily identifiable by its distinctive visual style and often defined by a strong narrative about relationships among women. His latest film Julieta is an adaptation of three linked short stories by Canadian author Alice Munro and is imbued with the trappings of Almodovaria - beginning with a close-up of a bright red, billowy fabric that is then revealed to be a dress worn by the title character.

Julieta (Emma Suarez), an elegant older woman, is packing up her Madrid apartment in preparation for a move to Portugal with her partner Lorenzo (Dario Grandinetti). But then a chance meeting with a childhood friend of her long-estranged daughter Antia changes everything. She learns that her daughter has been seen in town, with children in tow. The memories come flooding back and Julieta is wracked by a combination of grief, guilt and regret.