Volver and Live Flesh present the contradictions inherent in celebrating assertive motherhood through the ‘costumbrista’ tradition that Almodóvar has adapted and adopted throughout his career. Nostalgic yearning for a ‘return’ to the mother(land) is filtered in these films through a view of women projected through casting, costume, as well as the segregation of cinematic space. This results in a projection of exteriors as the masculine domain and assigning women largely to interiors, as in melodrama. Howe.