Javier Bardem as Esteban and Victoria Luengo as Emilia
“You said you remembered everything”
Written by Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Isabel Peña, THE BELOVED (2026) is a beautifully crafted and memorable film that premiered at the 2026 Cannes Fim festival. Starting out his career in 2008 with the comedy ‘8 Dates’ Madrid born Rodrigo Sorogoyen has gone on to direct a plethora of superb movies that attracted much acclaim. His film ‘The Beasts’ won the coveted César Award for Best Foreign Film and then swept the boards of the 37th Goya Awards with no fewer than nine prizes, including Best Film. His features and shorts also attracted awards and nominations including ‘Mother’ (2018)- (see Our review- https://www.latinolife.co.uk/articles/three-short-films-madre-piggy-and-fifteen /). In 2018, the London Film Festival was privileged to screen a remarkable number of quality short films such as ‘Mother’ (Madre), that also won the Goya Award for Best Fictional short film and was later nominated for an Oscar.
Sorogoyen is a skilled director who knows how to craft a film to evoke powerful emotions and still entertain. Sorogoyen admits that he took up filmmaking, not only because he was the grandson of renowned director Antonio del Amo, but because of his fascination with ‘Léon: The Professional’ (1994) by Luc Besson, a superb thriller with Jean Reno and brought Natalie Portman to international stardom. So, a talented director like Sorogoyen is never about to disappoint and THE BELOVED (El Ser Querido) is another example of his mastery.
‘THE BELOVED’ is an intense psychological study that set out to explore the toxic elements of power and control. It has a fairly straightforward scenario. A famous and charismatic Oscar- winning film director, Esteban, (Javier Bardem) returns to his homeland from New York, to shoot a film set in the 1930s, called ‘Desierto’. It is to be shot in north Africa and he chooses to cast his estranged daughter Emilia (Victoria Luengo) in the lead. She is an actress who has been working in hospitality as she ‘rests’ between films. Initially, it appears that Esteban hopes this move will go towards mending the family rift that began 13 years earlier. A time when he abandoned his girlfriend, Emilia’s mother choosing to pursue his career in the United States, where he married and had a whole new family. Emilia is not in a forgiving mood when they meet again.
Javier Bardem, Victoria Luengo and Raúl Arévalo -
It is a film about a film, or a play within a play, a popular format that harks back to Shakespearean tragedies. The first restaurant scene of the film when Esteban meets up with Emilia for the first time after 13 years is a superb example of quality filmmaking. Sorogoyen deliberately kept the actors apart to that they were themselves first meeting already on set. This generated, in a natural way, the awkward tension that emanates from a situation like that. Later, the whole shooting experience for father and daughter develops into a intense power struggle, as control freak Esteban will only “listen as long as everybody is agreeing with him”.
Javier Bardem as Esteban
Alejandro de Pablo, the cinematographer work almost entirely with close-up shots establishing a powerful intimacy and claustrophobic sense of threat, right from the start. It does not take long for the unfinished business of old resentments to surface, exacerbated by Esteban’s unspoken denials and his caustic control games.
It is all in the eyes as it becomes an almost outright battle of glances and tensions, but we soon gauge that Emilia is no push over! She is a chip off the old block. While she obligingly complies with all his torturous requests to repeat and repeat a scene, her eyes follow his every move like a knife penetrating even his hard shield. He can’t stand it. She expresses a rebellion he cannot control and it drives him insane, haunting his every moment.
He realizes she is seeing his weaknesses through the games he is playing, and constantly throws the ball back in his court however, threatening and dangerous he appears. So scary in fact, that the cinematographer (Pepa Harcía) and her team decide to resign on the spot.
Not Emilia. She is made of sterner stuff. No amount of coercion will allow her to let him actually ‘win’; and he can’t bear it. But will this bully ever be able to apologize? His attitude to her is akin to that of a stalker, but Emilia does not cow down to him at any point. It starts to feel like the clash of the titans as he has his own versions of meltdowns adding to the toxic atmosphere.
Sorogoyen joked about Bardem's role saying that "it is funny because Javier Bardem plays a film director. Yesterday we did a rehearsal and he does it better than me. He starts directing and says things that I would not have thought of".
Pepa García as Pepa de cinematographer
Javier Bardem is superb. He holds the audience in his hands despite being on the other side of a screen. He breathes on us and we feel it! No surprise that he has been hailed as one of the greatest actor villains of all time.
In fact, all the casting in this film is spot on. Victoria Luengo has the presence and charisma to hold her own with an internal streak of steel that keeps her from breaking. It is a truly special experience to see these two on screen at the same time, vibrating with the energy with two powerful performances.
Rodrigo Sorogoyen the director.
Sorogoyen has chosen an experimental approach by playing with the alternating technique of shifting from colour to Black & White to emphasize an inner and outer emotional experience. Does it work? The presence of the whole cast is so strong that maybe we do not need this added help. We can pick up enough from their body language and expressions. Do we need to be reminded what to feel? Probably not, but it doesn’t interfere with the flow either.
THE BELOVED is a film not to be missed. I would say it is definitely an award -winning script and award-winning performances from the leads. Totally mesmerizing and memorable in every way.
THE BELOVED (El Ser Querido- 2026) Directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen is at the BFI London Film Festival with screenings at the BFI IMAX, The Royal Festival Hall and the Curson Soho Cinema.
UK Rights are held by Curzon Cinema (coming soon to UK cinemas)
Written by Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Isabel Peña
Producers: Nacho Lavilla, Eduardo Villanueva, Clara Lago, Javier Bardem / DOP Álex de Pablo / Editor: Alberto del Campo / Composer: Olivier Arson/ Casting: Paula Cámara and Arantza Vélez / Production Designer: José Tirado / Sound Designer and supervisor: Fabiola Ordoyo /Production co@ Caballo Films Movistar Plus+, Le Pacte (FR) El Ser Querido AIE/ Shot on the island of Fuerteventura with some footage in Madrid.
CAST: With Javier Bardem as Esteban Martínez/ Victoria Luengo as Emilia Vera/ Raúl Arévalo as César/ Melina Matthews as Bárbara/ Marina Foïs as Marina/ Pepa García as Pepa /
Spain 2026. 135min. Courtesy of Curzon.
