Watch an Exclusive Clip From 'Twice Born'

Penelope Cruz is back! To clarify, it's not that she hasn't made movies over the last few years, just that she hasn't made any movies that we actually wanted to see — until now. In Twice Born, a new drama set for release in December, Cruz stars as an Italian woman whose summer vacation to Sarajevo turns into a quest to uncover long-held family secrets. It's a mystery, a family drama, and the first movie in years that looks like it might fit Cruz's Oscar-winning talents.

Twice Born finds Gemma (Cruz) returning to Sarajevo to show her teenage son, Pietro (Pietro Castellitto), the country where she met his father, Diego (Into the Wild's Emilie Hirsch). Gemma quickly discovers that the past is not how it seems — and that the circumstances in which Pietro was born were far from simple. The film alternates between the present and the winter of 1984, when Gemma's relationship with Diego was backdropped by fertility troubles and the Balkan war.

Bustle has an exclusive clip from Twice Born, in which Gemma rides in a car with her driver, Gojco (Adnan Haskovic), whose coarse language and questionable driving skills upsets her. She demands to leave, only to have a frustrated Gojco attempt to convince her to come back. Just a few moments later, though, Gojco is quoting poetry, shouting gleefully at snow, and calling Gemma "a beautiful Italian woman," all while eerie music plays in the background.

It's an interesting clip, albeit a confusing one; it's hard to know exactly what's going on, or even which time period the scene takes place in. Still, it's a good sign that Twice Born will give Cruz some better material to work with than The Counselor or Nine or really, any of the movies she's done over the past couple years.

Watch the exclusive clip below:

Based on the 2011 bestseller by Margaret Mazzantini, Twice Born, directed by Sergio Castellito, also stars Saadet Aksoy, Luca De Filippo and Jane Birkin. It will be released on Dec. 6.

Image: eOne Films