“Here I wanted to show your arse,” coos Pedro Almódovar blithely. “I can see that!” laughs the lady Penélope Cruz. Yes, the commentary by director and star here is funny, layered and a little lewd – three good reasons to grab this two-disc dose of Almodóvar’s Cannes-wowing female-ensemble flick. As packages go, Cruz’s prosthetic derrière has nothing on it.

Not that the supernatural semi-farce of the main movie isn’t enough to tempt. Sure, doubters at the Church of Pedro argue that his 16th feature recycles themes. Sisterhood, love, death, cancer, cleavage... But so what? These are rich pickings and, besides, who quibbles when Scorsese makes another crime film? Nor is Almodóvar hiding anything. Named after a tango tune and meaning “to come back”, Volver refers both to his return to maternal melodrama and La Mancha. Plot-wise, too, a dead mother (Carmen Maura) returns to her daughters, resurrecting dark family secrets en route...

Despite these ghostly goings-on, Volver is brighter than Almodóvar’s last film, Bad Education. The DVD extras reflect it, too. On a great Cannes documentary, the standing-ovation footage sees Cruz crying with joy. A fresh, 40-minute roundtable natter between auteur and ensemble exudes affection, and while you may gag at the lavish displays of love between Almodóvar and a similarly homecoming Cruz, she does at least provide a revelatory, radiant centrepoint for the director’s multi-hued melodramatics. “It was a dream,” she says of her role. And it plays like one.

DVD Extras:

Director and star commentary
Almodóvar documentary
Almodóvar and cast conversation
Cannes documentary