By Joanna Orland
Featuring riveting performances from Javier Bardem and Victoria Luengo, The Beloved tells the story of a controlling and egomaniacal film director and his attempt to heal the rift with his estranged actress daughter. Esteban (Bardem) is a world-renowned director who offers his daughter Emilia (Luengo) a role in his upcoming film. They have not seen each other in 13 years, and their reunion is strained as Emilia reminds her father of their difficult past, which he refuses to acknowledge. Despite the tension between them, Emilia accepts the role, and the father-daughter relationship is explored on set through the lens of filmmaking.
A sweeping Spanish historical epic, the film within the film is what Esteban is most focused on, as he puts his art and ego above all else – even his family. The only way he knows how to communicate is through his art, which is why he’s invited Emilia to take part in the first place. As a director, he must have creative control over every minute detail of the film. His hubris carries over into his everyday life and his relationship with Emilia, which is why the parallels between the filmmaking process and the examination of their relationship go hand in hand.
Javier Bardem and Victoria Luengo Give a Masterclass in Scene Work
The opening scene of The Beloved showcases what is best about the film. This scene was the first to be filmed, before Javier Bardem and Victoria Luengo had even met as actors. Each was given a background spec script to understand their characters and their individual perspectives on the truth of their relationship with the other. They had ten pages to fill, and filmed the scene, somewhat improvised, over an entire three-course meal. After editing, the result is a twenty-minute scene that lays bare the relationship between Esteban and Emilia. It is compelling to watch, and in all honesty, could have lasted the entire duration of the film without complaint.
The characters come across so thoroughly in this opener that anything afterwards almost feels redundant. The abusive, egotistical director in Esteban shines through even in Bardem’s intent stares and defiance. Emilia clearly has a drinking problem, taking after her father, and she sees their past as much more contentious than he does. The character tropes are there, but they are lived-in and go deeper because of their fractured relationship.
Director Rodrigo Sorogoyen Takes a Heavy-Handed Approach with ‘The Beloved’
The quieter scenes between Esteban and Emilia are what this film does best. The performances delve so deep into the characters, and the dynamic between the actors is enthralling. But this film runs long, very long, and a lot of the film’s runtime is filled with stylization and artistic flourishes.
Even though a prominent theme of the film is the power of art, The Beloved is over-stylized and over-directed. As it works best in smaller intimate moments, these grand sweeping landscapes, movement shots, black-and-white sequences, and aspect-ratio shifts are just noise. They add nothing to the actual narrative or relationship dynamic, and feel overcooked.
‘The Beloved’ Is As Much About Art As It Is About Its Central Relationship
Esteban is a director who is always trying to control the narrative, in both his films and his life. That’s why he cast his daughter in his latest film – to try to reconcile their relationship in a way that he can control. Even when having a raw and honest conversation with Emilia about her perspective, he blames narrative. He blames Emilia’s mother for a narrative she must’ve spun to their daughter through anger and resentment. Emilia calls him out on his tendencies to go with story over truth, and pleads with him to ignore the narrative and just see her from an honest place. It’s only then that he feels actual emotion. It’s the emotion that is honest, not the narrative, which is why the lived-in acting supersedes the direction in The Beloved.
The purpose of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s over-direction is to enhance the idea of using art to get to the truth of a story. The Beloved references a quote from Liv Ullmann, “It’s so much easier to be together when we drop our masks.” Regarding filmmaking, Esteban relates to Ullman’s idea that, through camera closeups, it becomes impossible to wear a mask. Esteban is exploring his relationship with his daughter through filmmaking to see beneath the mask, to find the truth. Sorogoyen is also using camera closeups, including extreme closeups, on his actors to showcase the truth of their characters, to see past the masks they’re putting on for each other and in the film within the film.
The Beloved is a character study, a relationship study, and an exploration of expression through art. With its overarching plot, it will inevitably draw comparisons to 2025’s Sentimental Value, but The Beloved is a darker portrait of creative control, ego, and brutal truths.
–
The Beloved
Directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Starring Javier Bardem, Victoria Luengo, Raúl Arévalo, Marina Foïs, and Melina Matthews
Reviewed at TIFF 2026
