Madre

Adaptation of the eponymous short film by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, nominated for an Oscar. The movie follows Elena (Marta Nieto), a woman who, after losing her six-year-old son on a beach in France, remains trapped in a tunnel of grief and personal reconstruction. Ten years after that tragic event, Elena still lives on that same beach, working as a bar manager, in a stark apartment that seems more like a transit space than a home. Her life takes a turn when she meets Jean (Jules Porier), a teenager who painfully reminds her of her lost son.

Madre is a psychological drama that addresses grief from its ambiguity and emotional depth. Rodrigo Sorogoyen poses questions rather than answers, inviting the viewer to reflect and fill in the narrative gaps with their interpretation. Just as the fog blurs the boundaries between sea, land, and sky, the film explores the blurred line between reality and Elena's emotional projections.

Elena is never clear whether Jean is truly her lost son or merely a reflection of her despair. The connection between them is presented with an ambiguity that hovers between the filial and the romantic, leaving the interpretation of this emotionally charged relationship up to the viewer. Jean can be seen as a symbol of rebirth or a second chance, but also as a disturbing reminder of how pain can distort our perception of reality.

Marta Nieto's performance is the soul of the movie. Her portrayal is a masterful study of contained pain, of human strength and vulnerability. Nieto conveys with astonishing sobriety the experience of a mother who has not only lost her son but also the certainty of what happened to him. The rest of the cast, including Jules Porier as Jean, does their job effectively, but this is, without a doubt, a film that rests entirely on Nieto's shoulders, who makes the impossible tangible and heart-wrenching.

Visually, Sorogoyen uses the beach as an omnipresent symbol of Elena's loss. The sea, vast and indecipherable, reflects both the absence and the impossibility of finding answers. The visual atmosphere created by the director highlights Elena's desolation, with open spaces that contrast with the darkness of her inner world. The long takes, characteristic of Sorogoyen's style, not only enhance the sense of immediacy, as in the tense phone call at the beginning, but also immerse the viewer in the protagonist's emotional chaos.

Madre is a deeply introspective work that presents the aftermath of a traumatic loss in all its ambiguity. It shows us how what we lose can return disguised, and how from the outside this pain can be misunderstood, even seen as a pathological obsession. Rather than judging Elena, the film invites us to witness her grief and understand that a single moment can change everything: it can take everything away or give everything.

I think it was a ridiculous finale, this work deserves much better

This terrible anxiety that is present throughout the film is constantly mixed with a sense of awe, emotion and beauty. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Pure mystery and softest storm!

After watching "THE BEASTS" of Rodrigo's binged me to explore his filmography that lead to watch "MADRE"... His innovative way to adapt his Oscar nominated short Film was unique with major support of Alejandro Pablo's cinematography is a paradise to every buffs...that gives a melancholic tone to many of the scenes with vibrant beaches and climatic conditions upscales this visual asethitic beauty to new level... Marta Nieto who plays the title role won the best actress award for the short film,her balancing act at times of grief & sadness does hurt deep into the heart and she is into the elite list of my favourite actress.... Overall a must watch movie that need not to be missed.

After watching the short film predecessor, which was nominated for the Oscar, I was expecting a story related to the dissapearance of Elena's son, Iván. It's been a real surprise how it's been developed, which takes place ten years after that tragedy and introduces us to a mother, Elena, who has just recovered and she has the bad or the good luck to meet a boy, Jean, who is age her son would be today.

The script is quite good, it's a scant irregular and especially the scene of the meeting with three men in the night club is totally left over, it's very unpleasant and adds nothing to the story. The rest of the characters on several occasions are overacted. In spite of this, I love the director's daring and the social criticism that love between a mand and a much younger woman is well seen, and the opposite is frowned upon.

It's magnificent to enjoy each image with this beauty of photography and the great chemistry between the two protagonists.

Finally, to highlight Marta Nieto's performance, there are no words to describe it. It's the best spanish performance of 2019.