Spanish writer-director Pilar Palomero, whose debut feature Schoolgirls (Las ninas) bowed in Berlin and made a sweep of Spanish prizes in 2021 including the national Goya Awards for best film and best new director, confirms her dramatic talent and her unusual empathy for the travails of young girls faced with adult problems in Maternal (La maternal). Set largely in a foster home for unwed mothers, it follows the dynamic trajectory of Carla, a 14-year-old tomboy who has a crush on a schoolmate, and who finds herself pregnant and unprepared for her new life as a single mother. Packing the energy and irresponsibility of a child in her screen debut, Carla Quilez portrays the protag with alarming realism. She won the award for best performance at San Sebastian, where the film bowed. With Elle Driver aboard for sales, Maternal should find responsive audiences willing to be involved in these difficult but, in Palomero’s view, redeemable lives.
Though she may seem too young and spontaneous to win a major acting award her first time out, Quilez is the heart of the film, holding it together with a sheer love of life that is undimmed by the tough relationship she has with her 30-ish mom Penélope (Angela Cervantes), who acts barely more adult than her daughter. They live in the back of a truck stop restaurant, acquired by Penélope’s grandmother as an escape from prostitution. This poignant backstory comes late in the film, but in retrospect gives meaning and motivation to their lives, as well as a touch of defiant feminism.
The opening scene ingeniously defines Carla’s relationship with her best pal Efrain while adding a touch of clueless underage sexuality. They have broken into somebody’s house and are giggling over what we assume (but never see) are explicit sex scenes on a cell phone. It’s Carla who dares the boy to look at the “nasty” stuff. Then she trashes the living room in a wild fit of euphoria. The episode gets her and mom into big trouble with the social services, who have had to separate them before. When a doctor’s visit reveals Carla is five months pregnant, it comes as a surprise to everyone. There’s no time wasted discussing who, how or when or if she’s going to keep the baby. In the next scene, she is moved into a home for pregnant girls.
This way of skipping over the obvious is a hallmark of Palomero’s screenplay and one of the reasons the story remains fresh and lively instead of dull. It only pushes the predictable in one undramatized scene where Carla’s housemates, all minors, take turns telling their stories about how they ended up where they are, as the camera pauses respectfully on one girl after another. This rough bit of sociology is flavored with pitiful reflections like “a baby would be the only person who stays with me,” while in the background a real baby wails.
Carla is still plugging in her earphones and dancing wildly to the music, but as her belly grows it’s clear she’s bracing for maternity and whatever that might entail. Meanwhile she still has a lot of trouble accepting frustration and curbing her impulses, despite the warm and wise support of the adult tutors who run the house. D.P. Julian Elizalde’s sensitive cinematography keeps her in the spotlight, focusing on her big shining eyes in the night scenes and conveying her anxiety about whether she has what it takes to be a good mother.
The baby is born offscreen, without fanfare or trauma. Suddenly Carla’s son is in her arms – and now her real maternity begins, surrounded by other young mothers. In the last part of the film, Penélope returns as an important force in Carla’s life. In a notable supporting performance, Cervantes slowly but surely transforms the character from a flighty mother (now grandmother) prone to locking Carla out of the house while she sleeps with her boyfriend into a woman who buys baby clothes and offers sage advice.
The ending is upbeat but not rhetorical, letting Carla and Penélope evolve each in her own way, so that maternity is no longer experienced as a stigma and an affliction but as a way to connect.
Director, screenplay: Pilar Palomero
Cast: Carla Quilez, Angela Cervantes, Rubén Martinez, Claudia Medina, Estelle Collado, Sheila Banos, Claudia Dalmau, Jamila Bengharda, Jordan Angel Durnes, Olga Hueso, Pepe Lorente, Gal-la Sabaté, Neus Pàmies
Producers: Valérie Delpierre, Alex Lafuente
Cinematography: Julian Elizalde
Editing: Sophie Escudé
Production design: Monica Bernuy
Costume design: Arantxa Ezquerro
Sound: Leo Dolgen
Production companies: Inicia Films (Spain), BTeam Prods (Spain), Barrixica Aie (Spain)
World Sales: Elle Driver
Venue: San Sebastian Film Festival Film Festival (Competition)
In Spanish
123 minutes
