Romería
After winning Berlinale’s Golden Bear for her previous feature Alcarràs, Spanish director Carla Simón has graduated to competing for the Palme d’Or. Her follow-up to that acclaimed drama about a family of peach farmers fighting for their livelihood, Romería, continues to explore the complexities of generational ties.
Orphaned Marina wants to study film at university, and to apply for a scholarship, she must provide documentation of her family’s financial situation. This proves complicated, as she is not listed as her father’s surviving child in the necessary records. To resolve the issue, the 18-year-old must reach out to the grandparents she has never met and ask to be officially recognised as part of their genealogy.
What follows is a pensive pilgrimage through a trove of family secrets, with the filmmaker’s signature naturalism occasionally giving way to more stylised flourishes. Interwoven into Marina’s story are her imagined visions of her parents’ lives, rendered in a dreamlike, almost enchanted manner: lovers’ bodies bound together by blades of algae. The harsh reality of their heroin addiction and eventual deaths from AIDS is reimagined as a dance sequence, culminating in an abstract, emotionally resonant ending.
Even without knowing Simón’s background, it’s unmistakable that her third feature is tinged with autobiographical colour. The film creates space for close, quiet contemplation, but in moments of conflict, one senses that greater distance might have allowed for more sharply drawn characterisation across the board. In one key scene, the protagonist’s grandfather gives her money to cover tuition, effectively resolving her dilemma. This is followed by dialogue that explicitly explains the grandparents’ actions are motivated by tradition and a desire to uphold appearances – rather than allowing this to emerge organically through the gesture itself.
Llúcia Garcia delivers an astonishing debut as Marina, even if the character herself remains somewhat indefinite and elusive.
Romería is an emotive journey of introspection, and should not be missed by audiences who appreciate the tacit, understated approach so often embraced by European cinema in its explorations of family dynamics.
Selina Sondermann
Romería does not have a release date yet.
Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival coverage here.
For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.
Watch a clip forRomería here:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
RSS