The Beloved – Advance screening

Acclaimed film director Esteban reconnects with his estranged daughter Emilia after years of silence. Emilia is an actress whose career has been far less successful than his, yet he offers her the lead role in his latest project – a film about Spain’s colonial exploitation of Western Sahara in the 1930s. In the desert, beneath the blazing sun and with a camera between them, father and daughter come to truly know each other for the first time.

The Beloved received widespread critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival. The screenplay, written by long-time collaborators Isabel Peña and Rodrigo Sorogoyen, is a subtle masterclass in building tension. As one Flemish film critic put one of the key scenes halfway the film: ‘What the twenty-three-minute verbal shootout in the basement tavern is to Inglourious Basterds, the dinner scene is to The Beloved’.

Although the story may bring Sentimental Value to mind, The Beloved is grittier, more explosive. Sparks fly between father and daughter, with Victoria Luengo delivering a cunning, layered performance as Emilia. Javier Bardem gives one of the finest performances of his impressive career as a charming yet manipulative bully – his most terrifying role since No Country for Old Men.

Spanish and English spoken, English subtitled.