Costa Rican writer-director Valentina Maurel crafts an absorbing dysfunctional family drama centered on three women in her sophomore feature Forever Your Maternal Animal.
Elsa returns to San José after years of studying in Belgium, only to discover that her sister Amalia has grown increasingly withdrawn. Her mother Isabel and father Nahuel are too wrapped up in their own lives to grasp how serious the situation has become. Maurel takes the awkwardness of returning to one’s home country as a starting point and dives into the messy dynamic between the women in the family.
Marina de Tavira (Roma), Daniela Marín Navarro (Maurel’s I Have Electric Dreams), and newcomer Mariángel Villegas shared the Best Actress award in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival. These three exceptional performances are the primary reason why the film is such an engaging watch. The writing is strong as well, even if I hoped for a bit more clarity in how the story ultimately resolves. Still, the final moments are genuinely moving.
