North American Premiere
In this gripping, tense rural thriller about a French couple trying to make a new life by starting a farm and fixing abandoned homes in Galicia, Spain, director Rodrigo Sorogoyen presents the feral underbelly of country life where tensions between foreigners and locals, educated and uneducated, brutally come to the fore. The sense of immediacy and undercurrent of aggression—emphasized by a pulsing, suspenseful score—permeate each masterful scene, as the conflict between French farmer Antoine and local brothers Xan and Lorenzo, escalates scene by scene.
Filled with powerful performances, especially by the brilliant Marina Foïs, who dominates the latter half of the film with her stubborn determination.
The latest from Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen is a terrific psychological thriller and a brooding, muscular piece of filmmaking which makes the most of both the Galician backdrop and the imposing physicality of Menochet and, as his nemesis Xan, the remarkable Luis Zahera.”—Wendy Ide, Screen Daily
Audience Award for Best European Film, San Sebastian 2022
Denis Ménochet, Marina Foïs, Luis Zahera, Diego Anido, Marie Colomb
Spain/France
2022
In Spanish, French, and Galician with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Sentimental Value
A once-revered director crashes back into his family’s lives, eager to recruit his daughter for a film role. When she declines, he finds a new muse in an eager but unpolished Hollywood star, sending his botched reconciliation spiraling into chaos.
The Mother and the Bear
Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.
L'Étranger
Recreating 1940s Algeria in vivid, high contrast black and white cinematography, L'Etranger is erotic, enigmatic and brutal in equal measures, a masterful screen version of Albert Camus's insoluble classic of existential alienation.
The Chronology of Water
Kristen Stewart's fearless directorial debut is based on the best-selling memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch (Imogen Poots), a chronicle of her abusive childhood, traumatized adulthood, and escapes through swimming, drugs, sex, and ultimately writing.
Credits
Executive Producer
Sandra Tapia
Producer
Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé, Sandra Tapia Díaz, Eduardo Villanueva, Nacho Lavilla, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Jean Labadie, Anne-Laure Labadie, Thomas Pibarot
Screenwriter
Isabel Peña, Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Cinematography
Alejandro de Pablo
Editor
Alberto del Campo
Original Music
Olivier Arson
Art Director
Jose Tirado
Director
Rodrigo Sorogoyen
In addition to Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s extensive work in television, he has directed several award-winning films: Stockholm (2013), Que Dios nos perdone (2016), El Reino (2018), the Oscar-nominated short film Madre (2017), and its feature version in 2019. He recently directed the TV series Antidisturbios and El Doble, one of the four episodes in the remake of Historias para no dormir. His latest works are El Gestor, an episode for the series Apagón, and The Beasts, his fifth feature film.
Filmography: Stockholm (2013); Que Dios nos perdone (2016); El Reino (2018); Madre (2019)