Sorda

Sorda (2025) is a masterpiece! This Catalanian movie has a stunning cinematograohy and is also exellently acted. The movie unfolds slowly at the right pace. At its heart is a deeply loving couple who, after the birth of their baby, slowly find themselves caught in a complex emotional conflict, despite both doing their utmost to make things work. The film delicately portrays the strain that love and life can place on even the strongest of bonds as well as the silent struggles of new parenthood with rare tenderness and nuance. The final part of the film is a truly unique experience, one that pulls you in completely and quiet intensity lingers long after the credits roll.

Sorda follows a new mother and her husband struggling to raise their first daughter.

It is a quiet, slow, but simultaneously very gripping film as a result of the complex emotional circumstances the pair face.

Our protagonist has spent her life adjusting to living in a hearing world, and set up many systems (both practical and social) to help navigate the hearing world; She has friend groups who all speak sign language, a job that doesn't require hearing, a husband who can sign and interpret, and the more quotidian practical arrangements (doorbells that flash rather than make noises etc). Having a child upends their lives, as it does for everyone, but in their case that means all their strategies for coping with the hearing world also need to be built from scratch all over again. The film powerfully shows the vulnerability in that window, especially in the medical environment surrounding the birth: rapid communication is required and done verbally in a way she can't understand. Once the child is born "it takes a village", but the requirement of entering new social situations and meeting other new parents (who are mostly hearing), risk her getting shut out. It cleverly layers the challenged unique to the deaf community with those common to all parents and shows how they combine into a uniquely difficult situation.

It also provides a very nuanced and empathetic view of their relationship with their daughter; the struggle to connect with a child that is not the same as you (with one hearing parent and one deaf parent, the child will be one or the other but not both) and the strain this places on their marriage.

There are some beautiful shots, particularly at the protagonists workplace (she does pottery).

It feels odd to label it as "authentic" when I am not deaf and therefore obviously do not know that it is, but this is a common problem with ones reaction to films and I fall back on "it felt authentic" as a result of its depth, empathy, and embrace of subtle complexity.

Well worth watching.

Deaf is beautifully directed, and the chemistry between the characters is natural and great, especially the two main characters, Angela (Miriam) and Hector (Alvaro) were well-acted and believable. Although it's not perfect and tried its best to make the story interesting, it's still worth a watch because of its uniqueness and the perspective of a deaf mother raising her child. For me, Alvaro's character and acting are bonus points that made the film enjoyable.

From what I understand, "Sorda" was born a few years back when Eva Libertad made a short meter with the same name and the same actress, and now it has evolved into a beautiful long meter from Spain about the relationship between Ángela, a deaf woman who is expecting a baby, and her partner Héctor, a hearing person, very loving and helpful. The film wonderfully shows various problems and nuances of their relationship before the child's birth and after. I loved the authenticity and the film made it easy for me to feel for both characters and understand them, even when they see the world differently. The last part of the film is a unique experience, and it makes the whole piece a beautiful gem that I am happy to have discovered.

Potter "Ángela" (Miriam Garlo) lives with "Hector" (Álvaro Cervantes) and is expecting their baby. She is deaf, something she acquired in childhood, and he a hearing man - and so with the arrival of their baby looming they are concerned about whether it will hear or not. Luckily, it is born able to hear ok - or at least that's everyone's initial reaction, but as the child grows up and associates with her own hearing family and her dad, "Ángela" begins to feel alone, ostracised, and occasionally vulnerable as she tries to lead a normal life of parenting in a world that rarely appreciates that she cannot hear what they are saying. Garlo delivers strongly here and the story certainly has a lot of valid points to make, but I found Cervantes to be rather weak and the narrative a bit confused - at times even melodramatic. This film seems to prefer to contrive situations, especially during the protracted childbirth scene and subsequently between the couple, that seem more designed to accentuate her/their difficulties than necessarily ring true for a supposedly well-established and loving couple. It does shine a powerful light on issues around awareness and integration but as a drama, it fell short for me. It's worth a watch, but I felt it laboured it's point and undercooked it's characters.