Goese Filmdagen Amuse: The Beloved

As a preview to the Goese Filmdagen, tonight features a one-time screening of El Ser Querido, also known as The Beloved.

Filmmaker Esteban Martínez (Javier Bardem) is a legend, both for his impressive body of work and his notorious past filled with alcohol, violence, and excess. After thirteen years away, he returns to Spain to shoot his new film, and unexpectedly offers the lead role to his estranged daughter Emilia, an actress whose career has stalled. What begins as a chance at reconciliation quickly becomes an emotional minefield: on the film set, the boundaries between fiction and reality blur, and old wounds inevitably resurface.

The Beloved is an intense father-daughter drama by Oscar-nominated director Rodrigo Sorogoyen (Las Bestias, Madre), which had its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Skyfall) plays one of the most layered roles of his career, opposite Victoria Luengo (The Room Next Door, Amarga Navidad). Sorogoyen tells a nuanced story about the dynamics between parents and children, about artistry, and about the thin line between love and manipulation.