La piedad

Libertad lives a rosy, problem-free existence, enclosed in a microcosm with just enough room for her and her almost fully-grown son Mateo. Her name might mean “freedom” yet, where her son is concerned, this concept simply isn’t in her vocabulary. One day Mateo is diagnosed with cancer, yet Libertad's world doesn’t fall apart. On the contrary, she tightens up the rules and binds her son to her in such a way that his sense of self ceases to exist… There are few films which defy all the rules in order to tell an utterly realistic story, and La Piedad is one of them. Director Eduardo Casanova presents a singular, rose-tinted version of reality, where the mother exercises the same kind of power as the dictator governing North Korea. Just as toxic, just as absolute, and just as deadly. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)