【英语听和读】佩内洛普克鲁兹

 Amber 1: Hello, I'm Amber, and you’re listening to bbclearningenglish.com.

Today, we listen to parts of an interview with film star Penelope Cruz! She
talks about her new movie, ‘Volver’, what she likes about working with
Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, and what kind of film she’d like to make
next.
Now, Penelope Cruz’s acting 3 career is certainly on a roll – if you say
something is on a roll, you mean it’s very successful. Last year Penelope Cruz
stared in the Hollywood movie ‘Sahara’, and this year she’s just picked up an
award at the Cannes film festival for her role in the Spanish language film
‘Volver’.
‘Volver’ is directed by Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz has worked with
him before on other films. As you’ll hear, she thinks he’s a remarkably 4 good
director, in fact, she says - ‘He’s the reason why I decided 5 to become an actress
when I was a little girl.’
Notice too how she stresses Almodovar’s courage when it comes to creating
characters and how true to life he wants them to be.
Also, she uses a word to describe Almodovar which she says she doesn’t like
to use a lot, but she thinks it’s right to describe him. What does she call him?
Now here is Penelope Cruz talking about why she thinks Pedro Almodovar is
such a clever director. 
Entertainment © BBC Learning 2 English
Page 2 of 3
bbclearningenglish.com
Penelope Cruz
‘For me, I would say, truth is the mark. He really sees everything and is not afraid of
exploring it and he never judges his characters. He’s completely brave, and for me, he’s a
genius and I don’t like using that word that a lot but with him, I really think he is. He’s the
reason why I decided to become an actress when I was a little girl.’
Amber: So Penelope Cruz describes Pedro Almodovar as a genius – a person with a very
great and rare natural ability. And she says he ‘never judges his characters’. If you
don’t judge people, you let them be the way they are and don’t try to influence
other people’s opinion of them.
‘Volver’ – which means ‘Return’ in English – is very funny and extremely sad.
The film is the story of a rural 6 Spanish family moving to Madrid, and Penelope
Cruz plays a woman whose husband has been murdered and her dead mother
returns as a ghost. As you listen to the next part of the interview with Penelope
Cruz, try to catch how her character is feeling and why.
Penelope Cruz
‘My character has big regrets about not having solved a lot of things with her mother but her
mother comes back to life as a ghost and she’s able to solve a few things!’
Amber: So Penelope Cruz’s character ‘has big regrets’ – if you have regrets about
something you feel a sadness about them and wish they could have been
different and better. Her character is struggling with problems she didn’t
solve with her mother when she was alive, and the film explores what it’s
like to be haunted 7 by family secrets. It’s also about the importance of family
love.
 
Penelope Cruz is unusual because she is a successful Hollywood actress
and, as ‘Volver’ shows, she’s also a successful arthouse film star. An 
Entertainment © BBC Learning English
Page 3 of 3
bbclearningenglish.com
arthouse film is made for artistic 8 reasons – not commercial ones. So will she
keep moving between Hollywood and arthouse films? And what does she
look for when she considers new scripts 9 or ‘material’?
Penelope Cruz
‘I think it’s fun, you know, for me. And I learn about both sides of the industry and it’s really
interesting. In the future, when I’m 50, 60, will I plan to still be working? Well, actually the
same as now, just looking for material that means something, and maybe different things will
mean something for me at that moment, but trying to find something that feels new.’
Amber: So Penelope Cruz likes learning about ‘both sides of the industry’. And she looks
for ‘material that means something’ and ‘feels new’.
Here again is the language we focussed on in today’s programme and then,
Penelope Cruz again.
to be on a roll, never judges his characters, a genius, to have regrets, arthouse
Penelope Cruz
‘For me, I would say, truth is the mark. He really sees everything and is not afraid of
exploring it and he never judges his characters. He’s completely brave, and for me, he’s a
genius and I don’t like using that word that a lot but with him, I really think he is. He’s the
reason why I decided to become an actress when I was a little girl.’
‘I think it’s fun, you know, for me. And I learn about both sides of the industry and it’s really
interesting. In the future, when I’m 50, 60, will I plan to still be working? Well, actually the
same as now, just looking for material that means something, and maybe different things will
mean something for me at that moment, but trying to find something that feels new.’