Starring Javier Bardem and Victoria Luengo, The Beloved (OV: El Ser Querido) opens with an uncomfortable lunch. Esteban Martínez (Bardem) has returned to Spain to shoot his latest film and meets Emilia Vera (Luengo), his daughter with Charro, a former actress who starred in one of his earlier films. Their relationship is strained from the outset. Estranged for 13 years, they are defensive towards each other and disagree over lingering memories. Given their mutual frostiness over one lunch, the audience is left wondering how they will cope on a location shoot.
At the heart of The Beloved is Esteban and Emilia’s fraught relationship. Though Esteban tries to reach out to her, it is clear that she has little interest in being part of his family. Instead, she finds camaraderie with the cast and crew while privately dealing with alcohol-related issues. Bardem and Luengo’s refined performances capture reluctance, bitterness and frustration in waves, eventually crashing into a charged scene in which Esteban unfairly channels his anger towards his daughter, exposing his arrogance.
When the shoot begins, their reputations precede them. Esteban is an established filmmaker who strives for perfection and sees himself as a storyteller. Yet Emilia distances herself from him. His absence from her life weighs on her throughout the shoot, as she seeks honesty and professionalism while trying to dismiss the idea that she is a nepo baby. The screenplay by Isabel Peña and director Rodrigo Sorogoyen keeps the dialogue short and concise, keeping their relationship unstable and the audience on its toes.
As director, Sorogoyen encapsulates the pressures of a film shoot. Unpredictable weather forces the cast to wait endlessly, while unstable equipment disrupts scenes. Creative differences emerge among the cast and crew. With the action taking place in Fuerteventura, the isolation becomes a pressure cooker, intensifying the tension that emanates through The Beloved‘s visuals and sound. Contrasting aesthetics—including monochrome and colour—as well as dialogue-free scenes and others accompanied by Olivier Arson’s booming score create layers that conceal the characters’ true colours.
A notable plot element is Esteban revisiting his ‘landmark’ work, Siroco. Throughout the film, he records a commentary that revisits the film—and the memories it holds—through his eyes. In a way, this serves as a metaphor for his relationship with Emilia, particularly as Luengo also plays Charro in Siroco. Sorogoyen subtly refers to the commentary throughout the film, hinting that Esteban wishes to revisit a happier period of his past—or perhaps is unwilling to let it go.
Visually striking, The Beloved feeds on the challenges of both a film set and a fiercely complicated director-actor relationship, with Bardem and Luengo fuelling the fire.
The Beloved is being shown as part of the BFI London Film Festival 2026.
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Director: Rodrigo Sorogoyen; Isabel Peña (co-screenwriter)
Stars: Javier Bardem, Victoria Luengo
Runtime: 135 minutes
Country: Spain
