''The Grandmother'' ( es, La abuela, links=no) is a 2021

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

Paco Plaza Francisco Plaza Trinidad (born 8 February 1973), simply known as Paco Plaza, is a Spanish filmmaker known for his works in the horror genre. He is the co-creator of the ''REC'' zombie film franchise. Career Francisco Plaza Trinidad was born on ...

from a screenplay by

Carlos Vermut Carlos López del Rey (born 1980), known professionally as Carlos Vermut, is a Spanish filmmaker. Born in Madrid, he worked as illustrator, comic book artist and storyboard designer prior to filmmaking. Following his involvement in the animated t ...

which stars Almudena Amor and Vera Valdez. It is a Spanish-French co-production. Tracking a fashion model (Amor) returning home to look after her ailing grandmother (Valdez), the plot tackles the horror of

ageing Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

and the need for

elderly care Elderly care, or simply eldercare (also known in parts of the English-speaking world as aged care), serves the needs and requirements of senior citizens. It encompasses assisted living, adult daycare, long-term care, nursing homes (often called re ...

, with a supernatural side taking over progressively. The film had its world premiere at the

69th San Sebastián International Film Festival The 69th San Sebastián International Film Festival took place from 17 to 25 September 2021 in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. The festival opened with Zhang Yimou's '' One Second''. Marion Cotillard and Johnny Depp were awarded the Donostia ...

on 22 September 2021, and was released in Spain and France, respectively on 28 January and 6 April 2022.

Plot

The movie opens with an elderly woman entering an apartment, where she finds another older woman lying dead on the floor, and a half-eaten birthday cake on a table. She is then greeted by a young, blond naked woman. The old woman seems happy to see her and kneels down on the floor and kisses her. The film then focuses on Susana, a

fashion model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Thoug ...

working in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

; she calls her grandmother Pilar and tells her she will not be in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

for her birthday. A short time later, while snorting a stripe on her cellphone, Susana receives a call from a hospital in Madrid, telling her her grandmother had a

brain hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

. Being Pilar's only remaining living relative, Susana travels to Madrid; it is then revealed that Pilar is the same elderly woman from the opening sequence. Back in Madrid, Susana takes the seemingly brain-damaged Pilar back to her apartment in (next to El Retiro) and moves in to take care of her. As the days go by, Susana begins having several disturbing nightmares, making her uneasy. One day, Susana finds a young woman named Eva visiting Pilar. Eva tells her she is the niece of Pilar's best friend Julita, and that she and Susana have met before, but Susana does not remember her nor Julita. One night, Susana comes across her childhood diary; after reading it, she recalls a birthday party where she met both Eva and Julita. On that party, the two girls underwent some sort of strange ritual and both got locks of their hair cut; Susana also remembers that, from that day on, she began having nightmares related to her grandmother. She also begins to suspect that Pilar is moving through the apartment at night. Growing increasingly disturbed, Susana tries to leave and find accommodation for her grandmother, and in doing so, realizes that Pilar is a witch with

supernatural power Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

s. She causes the death of Adela, a

domestic worker A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...

Susana had hired to take care of her. Then, the same day Susana takes her to a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to in ...

a fire breaks out and kills all the guests in the house, whilst Pilar is seen back at her apartment without further explanation. Determined to go back to Paris, Susana kills Pilar by poisoning her soup. Minutes after her grandmother's death, the phone rings: it is Eva, who hears Susana's youthful voice and calls her Pilar. Susana responds by saying that she is not Pilar, to which Eva replies: "Are you sure?". Shortly after, Pilar uses her powers to move things around the house and keep Susana from leaving. Susana locks herself in the bathroom where she finds a painting of Pilar in her youth; she is then attacked by Pilar, who uses her powers to immobilize her to the floor. Pilar opens her mouth and transfers her

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

to Susana's body. Susana, now

possessed Possessed may refer to: Possession * Possession (disambiguation), having some degree of control over something else ** Spirit possession, whereby gods, demons, animas, or other disincarnate entities may temporarily take control of a human body *** ...

by Pilar, goes to look at the painting, which now shows Susana. Shortly after, Eva –revealed to be the young woman from the beginning– appears. The two women caress each other intimately and the film ends.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by Apache Films in association with

Atresmedia Cine Atresmedia Cine (formerly Ensueño Films and Antena 3 Films) is the studio belonging to Grupo Atresmedia responsible for producing films. It was created in 2000. History The film production company was created after the enacting of the Spanish ...

and Sony Pictures International Productions and in co-production with Les Films du Worso, with participation from

Atresmedia Atresmedia Corporación de Medios de Comunicación, S.A., previously Grupo Antena 3, is a Spanish media group, present in the television, radio and filmmaking industries. Significant shareholders include Grupo Planeta and Bertelsmann. On 6 Marc ...

and

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

and funding from

Eurimages Eurimages is a cultural support fund of the Council of Europe, established in 1989. Eurimages promotes independent filmmaking by providing financial support to feature-length fiction, animation, and documentary films. In doing so, it encourages c ...

and ICAA. Enrique López Lavigne is credited as producer.

directed the film whereas

took over writing duties. Daniel Fernández Abelló was responsible for the cinematography whereas

Fatima Al Qadiri Fatima Al Qadiri ( ar, فاطمة القديري; born July 1981) is a Senegalese-born Kuwaiti musician and conceptual artist. Biography Fatima Al Qadiri is the daughter of Mohammed Al Qadiri, a former Kuwaiti diplomat and writer, and Thuray ...

composed the score. Shooting lasted for seven weeks and wrapped by August 2020. It took place in between

and

Release

The film participated in the official selection of the

(SSIFF). It premiered on 22 September 2021 (6th day). It also screened at the 54th Sitges Film Festival. Its theatrical release in Spain was tentatively slated for 22 October 2021, but it was delayed to 5 January 2022, and then postponed again due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. It eventually opened in theatres on 28 January 2022, grossing half a million € in its opening weekend (the best box office debut in the aforementioned week), becoming the highest-grossing Spanish film of 2022 in the domestic market over the course of its initial 8-week run with 1.8 million €. It became available on Amazon Prime Video on 25 March 2022. Distributed by

Wild Bunch The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang, or the Oklahombres, were a gang of American outlaws based in the Indian Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were active in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Terr ...

, the film opened in French theatres on 6 April 2022.

Reception

Andrea G. Bermejo of ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a Spanish language monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin) ...

'' rated the film with 4 out of 5 stars, assessing that it brings together the best distinctive elements from Plaza and Vermut. Raquel Hernández Luján of ''

HobbyConsolas ''HobbyConsolas'' is a Spanish video game magazine founded in 1991 by Hobby Press and published by Axel Springer SE. The first issue appeared in October 1990. The monthly magazine offers information about games for all consoles, and since 2012 ha ...

'' scored the film with 67 out of 100 points ("acceptable"), deeming it to be, flaws notwithstanding, a film worthy of your time, praising the setting, the performances, the score and the production design, while negatively assessing that the film sabotages itself by providing too much information at the beginning. Jordi Batlle Caminal of ''

Fotogramas ''Fotogramas'' is Spanish digital and print film magazine which has been in circulation since 1946. It is one of the early film magazines in Spain. History Founded in Barcelona, it was first published on 15 November 1946 by Antonio Nadal-Rodó a ...

'' gave it 4 out of 5 stars, extolling the

mise-en-scène ''Mise-en-scène'' (; en, "placing on stage" or "what is put into the scene") is the stage design and arrangement of actors in scenes for a theatre or film production, both in visual arts through storyboarding, visual theme, and cinematography, ...

and the exemplary handling of space while negatively assessing the disputable and unnecessarily gimmicky conclusion.

Accolades

, - , align = "center" rowspan = "5" , 2022 , , rowspan = "2" ,

9th Feroz Awards The 9th ceremony of the Premios Feroz, known as the Feroz Awards 2022, presented by the Asociación de Informadores Cinematográficos de España, took place at the Auditorio de Zaragoza in Zaragoza, Spain, on 29 January 2022, to recognize the bes ...

, , Best Trailer , , Miguel Ángel Trudu , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Poster , , Octavio Terol, Jorge Alvariño , , , - , 29th Gérardmer International Fantasy Film Festival , , colspan = "2" , Jury Prize , , , , , - , rowspan = "2" ,

36th Goya Awards The 36th Goya Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AACCE), honoured the best in Spanish films of 2021 and took place at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia on 12 February 2022. The ceremony ...

, , Best Original Score , , Fatima Al Qadiri , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Special Effects , , Raúl Romanillos, Ferran Piquer , ,

References

External links

*
''La abuela''
at ICAA's ''Catálogo de Cinespañol'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Grandmother, The Films set in Paris Films set in Madrid Films shot in Spain Films shot in France 2021 films Spanish supernatural horror films French supernatural horror films Films directed by Paco Plaza Films about old age Atresmedia Cine films Apache Films films Les Films du Worso films 2020s Spanish-language films 2020s Spanish films 2020s French films 2020s supernatural horror films Films set in apartment buildings LGBT-related horror films Spanish LGBT-related films Spanish-language horror films