by Michel Franco
Heavily pregnant and bursting with passionate love for her boyfriend Matteo, 17-year-old Valeria enjoys life on a long stretch of Mexican coast, living in a beach house with her older sister, Clara. When their mother, Abril, returns from Spain, and begins, if somewhat over protectively, caring for her pregnant daughter, the family idyll is complete. After the birth, however, the newborn seems somehow to reignite Abril’s long-forgotten feelings and desires… Reminiscent of the works of his Austrian colleague Michael Haneke, the great Mexican master Michel Franco allows the bizarre family idyll to derail and, to our astonishment and wicked pleasure, sends his characters along unfathomable tracks.