Off Screen

A social drama about Alzheimer's seen through the eyes of a teenage girl. Her mother's neurodegenerative disorder forces each member of the family to define their role in caring for her. Claudia, the protagonist, looks for a way to live this new reality. Around its central theme, the film reveals the family problems the illness causes and, as it unfolds, how each of them comes to accept it and how they cope. Taking refuge in friendship, silent suffering, resignation, the couple and the lack of communication are themes present throughout the whole film.

In her first feature, Marta Matute brings into view, with deep honesty and delicacy, an illness that is rarely talked about and that is going to become the human plague of the coming decades. It is a film born of the director's own experience, autobiographical, laying bare too much of the feelings suffered and the moments lived, showing us to perfection the figure of the carer, the one who must be cared for. Its final scene, with a fixed camera, generating off-screen dialogues, is a raw reality of the absence of conveying feelings. The cruelty and harshness of Alzheimer's and its consequences are perfectly reflected. This kind of film, made with a high level of rigour and respect, is unfortunately only within reach of those who have suffered it. It may well be the best feature I have seen so far on Alzheimer's, and unfortunately I know what I am talking about.

Golden Biznaga for best film at the 2026 Málaga Film Festival. Released in cinemas in May 2026, it can be watched on Filmin and Movistar Plus+.