Beginning with one of the best opening scenes of the year, The Beloved (El Ser Querido) is a rich study of the complex relationship between an estranged father and daughter as they are transplanted into the roles of acclaimed director and green actress on a film set. Featuring two incendiary lead performances and some stylistic choices, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s psychological drama is an interesting cinematic experience.
When Oscar-winning director, Esteban Martínez (Javier Bardem) returns to Spain to shoot his next film, he reaches out to Emilia (Victoria Luengo), the daughter he hasn’t seen in 13 years to offer her a lead role. With her memories of him shaped by violence and drug abuse, she is initially reluctant to accept his offer, but, as a struggling actress, ultimately commits to experience, drawn by a morbid curiosity of who her father is now. The pair must navigate their relationship within the dynamic of director-actor, as tensions mount and Emilia also contends with the difference in the public perception and her private knowledge of her father.
This is a taut exploration of the complexities of an estranged parent-child relationship, scratching away at these characters and their dynamic to unearth all of the layers beneath. The film undulates between moments of hope, suspicion, grief, curiosity and trauma, becoming as unpredictable as Esteban’s moods and motives. Emilia tries to understand her father and his intentions, slipping between a guarded unfamiliarity during brief displays of closeness and an unrestrained rage at blatantly crossed boundaries. The characters are drawn together and apart again as Esteban alternately appears to be trying to atone in some way for the harm he has caused Emilia, and attempting to keep her under his thumb as unearned parental concern becomes attempted coercion. A curiosity and childlike longing for unrealised dreams creates glimmers of hope and trust slightly rebuilt, only for it to be ripped down later. Emilia is gaslit but rarely cowers, only in one of the film’s standout scenes as the tension is ratcheted up so high that childhood trauma comes bubbling to the surface.
The stage is set and these themes captured in the film’s astonishing 18-minute-long opening scene. In the introduction at the festival’s gala premiere, Sorogoyen and Luengo explained that the scene was created from one entirely-improvised 80-minute take, making the result even more staggering. The film opens as Emilia and Esteban meet for the first time in 13 years, over a lunch he has arranged to reconnect and propose his film to her. The performances and filmmaking immediately pull you right into the characters and their dynamic for a breathless exchange where tension rises and falls and you puzzle these characters out as they do the same to one another. Filmed almost entirely in extreme close ups that move closer and further away from the actors’ faces as the boiling pot simmers and lowers across the scene, it is a dizzyingly intense exchange that creates a potent energy. It immediately begins to pull and tease at the fabric of this fractured relationship as it begins to be rebuilt, pulled down and contorted this way and that over the 18 minutes. Whilst the concept of the scene may sound reminiscent of Sentimental Value, this is a whole other affair.
From this gripping opening and throughout, the film is held fast by two of the best performances of the year. Bardem is firing on all cylinders, conveying the complexity and slipperiness of Esteban’s character, unveiling his villainous history and behaviour but allowing genuine emotion to seep through the cracks. He disappears into a role that at times becomes almost as frightening as some of his most iconic turns. He is matched every step of the way by Luengo, giving a luminous performance, using her incisive gaze to project the internal turmoil of the character and fully embodying the role. The two play off each other brilliantly, with conversations and looks so dangerous that they feel like they could start fires, but equally finding the smaller, quieter moments that often say just as much. Each reveals deeper layers as events unfold, with the film showing moments from both perspectives and dragging the audience directly into the unpredictability of their dynamic.
Sorogoyen’s direction and stylistic ambition further adds to the texture of the film (sometimes literally). Choosing to switch medium to various different film stocks for certain shots or scenes and cutting to specific shots in black and white invites more interpretation and a closer examination of the perspectives and emotions on display. It adds to the slightly erratic energy of the film (in a good way) that gives the film a grittier feel. Occasionally the sudden switches and questions the stylistic choices pose can bring you out of the film, but ultimately, they become part of its rhythm. The film occasionally feels a little meandering and drags towards its end, slowly losing the propulsion it began with, but the performances keep you invested.
The film also explores the changing opinions and expectations surrounding an auteur’s behaviour on a film set. With the various reckonings and revelations of the past decade, the film pushes Esteban to face unexpected reactions to his contemptuous attitudes, exploring the myth-making that can surround great artists and what they must do to create their art. With Emilia’s mother having met Esteban on his first film, and living to tell some terrible stories, the film asks questions around the cost of art and the power imbalance of those deemed to possess some kind of genius. It adds an additional layer away from the central personal relationship but becomes intricately linked with this as personal dynamics make their way to the set.
A meaty drama to sink your teeth into, The Beloved delivers spectacular performances and interesting filmmaking choices that stay with you. It invites questions and probes its themes from all angles; whilst it may start at its highest and lose a little of its propulsion towards the end, this is a fascinating character study and cinematic experience.
