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The Grandmother (Spanish: La abuela)[2] is a 2021 Spanish-French horror film directed by Paco Plaza from a screenplay by Carlos Vermut which stars Almudena Amor and Vera Valdez.

The Grandmother
Theatrical release poster
Spanish	La abuela
Directed by	Paco Plaza
Written by	Carlos Vermut
Produced by	Enrique López Lavigne
Starring	Almudena Amor Vera Valdez
Cinematography	Daniel Fernández Abelló
Music by	Fatima Al Qadiri
Production companies	Apache Films Atresmedia Cine Sony Pictures International Productions Les Films du Worso
Distributed by	Sony Pictures (es) Wild Bunch (fr)
Release dates	22 September 2021 (2021-09-22) (Zinemaldia) 28 January 2022 (2022-01-28) (Spain) 6 April 2022 (2022-04-06) (France)
Running time	99 minutes
Countries	Spain France
Languages	Spanish French
Box office	$3 million[1]

Premise

The movie opens with an elderly woman (Valdez) entering an apartment, where she finds another older woman lying dead on the floor, and a half-eaten birthday cake on a table. She's 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 (Amor), a fashion model working in Paris; she calls her grandmother Pilar and tells her she will not be in Madrid for her birthday. A short time later, Susana receives a phone call from a Hospital in Madrid, telling her her grandmother had a brain hemorrhage. Being Pilar's only remaining living relative, Susana travels to Madrid; it is then revealed that Pilar is the same woman from the opening sequence.

Back in Madrid, Susana takes Pilar back home 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's the niece of Pilar's best friend Julita, and that she and Susana have met before, but Susana doesn't 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 got 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 powers. She causes the death of Adela, a nurse Susana had hired to take care of her. Then, the same day Susana takes her to a nursing home a fire breaks out and kills all the guests in the house. 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's then attacked by Pilar, who uses her powers to immobilize her to the floor. Pilar opens her mouth and transfers her soul to Susana's body. Susana, now possessed 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 and Sony Pictures International Productions and in co-production with Les Films du Worso, with participation from Atresmedia and Amazon Prime Video and funding from Eurimages and ICAA.[7] Enrique López Lavigne is credited as producer.[7] Paco Plaza directed the film whereas Carlos Vermut took over writing duties.[8] Daniel Fernández Abelló was responsible for the cinematography whereas Fatima Al Qadiri composed the score.[9]

Shooting lasted for seven weeks and wrapped by August 2020.[10] It took place in between Paris and Madrid.[10]

Release

The film participated in the official selection of the 69th San Sebastián International Film Festival (SSIFF). It premiered on 22 September 2021 (6th day). It also screened at the 54th Sitges Film Festival.[11][12] Its theatrical release in Spain was tentatively slated for 22 October 2021,[13] but it was delayed to 5 January 2022,[11] and then postponed again due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[14] It eventually opened in theatres on 28 January 2022,[15] grossing half a million € in its opening weekend (the best box office debut in the aforementioned week),[6] 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 €.[16] It became available on Amazon Prime Video on 25 March 2022.[17] Distributed by Wild Bunch, the film opened in French theatres on 6 April 2022.[18][19]

Reception

Andrea G. Bermejo of Cinemanía rated the film with 4 out of 5 stars, assessing that it brings together the best distinctive elements from Plaza and Vermut.[20]

Raquel Hernández Luján of HobbyConsolas scored the film with 67 out of 100 points ("acceptable"), deeming it to be, flaws nothwithstanding, a film worthy of your time, praising the setting, the performances, the score and the production design, while negatively assesing that the film self-sabotages by opening so much in its beginning.[21]

Jordi Batlle Caminal of Fotogramas gave it 4 out of 5 stars, extolling the mise-en-scène and the exemplary handling of space while negatively assessing the disputable and unnecessarily gimmicky conclusion.[22]

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2022	9th Feroz Awards	Best Trailer	Miguel Ángel Trudu	Won	[23]
		Best Poster	Octavio Terol, Jorge Alvariño	Nominated
	29th Gérardmer International Fantasy Film Festival	Jury Prize		Won	[18]
	36th Goya Awards	Best Original Score	Fatima Al Qadiri	Nominated	[24]
		Best Special Effects	Raúl Romanillos, Ferran Piquer	Nominated

See also

• List of Spanish films of 2022

References

External links

• The Grandmother at IMDb 
• La abuela at ICAA's Catálogo de Cinespañol

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