Julio Medem’s Ma Ma takes the melodrama to the nth level, by crafting a story that combines elements from Mildred Pierce, Terms of Endearment and Not Without My Daughter. In essence, it’s a story about the courage of mothers, and how they will go to the end of the world to protect their children. Penélope Cruz stars as Magda, an unemployed teacher who has been abandoned by her husband, when she discovers she has breast cancer. Worried for the mental state of her little boy (Teo Planell) she sends him away with relatives, until after she has gone through chemotherapy and surgery. Magda’s lonely world is turned upside down in the most serendipitous of manners as she meets Arturo (Luis Tosar) a recent widower, who like her, seeks companionship and friendship.

The two begin an unorthodox relationship that slowly turns into a romance for the sake of “living on”, as Magda seeks to leave something behind for Arturo and her son, in case she dies. While the medical aspects of the film may be questionable from a scientific point of view (Magda’s doctor played by Asier Etxeandia wanted to be a singer, and breaks into song on any/every occasion) the film is tuned to work as a classic tearjerker, rather than a piece of contemporary realism. On that level, Ma Ma (the title itself an enchanting wordplay on the Spanish word for breast and of course, “mother”) pushes the audience towards a crescendo that works for as long as people are willing to play along.

It helps that the guide is Ms. Cruz, turning in one of the finest performances of her career, and a spiritual companion in a way to her pitch perfect work in Volver (one could even say she riffs on elements of that performance). Cruz is the kind of actress who allows us to see her character trying to hold back her emotions, as we see Magda undergoing her medical examination Ms. Cruz shows undeniable fear in her eyes, but also an endless compassion as she turns the situation around to try and make her doctor and nurse feel at ease. There is a sequence where using a cell phone camera, she looks as regal and moving as a painting, and a Neorealist actress. It’s a performance of such perceptiveness and heart, that one wishes to get lost inside it forever.