REVIEW: PACO PLAZA’S LA ABUELA AKA THE GRADNMOTHER (2021)

by Beatriz Ayllón (*)

THE GRANDMOTHER  is a Spanish horror film released on January 28, 2022, starring Almudena Amor, nominated for the Goya for Best New Actress by EL BUEN PATRÓN (2021), by Fernando León de Aranoa, and Vera Valdez, a former model born in 1936, whose film career began in 2016 with THE LAST LAND, written and directed by Pablo Lamar.

Produced by Apache Films, in association with Atresmedia Cine and Sony Pictures International Productions and with the participation of Atresmedia and Amazon Prime Video, is scripted by Carlos Vermut from an original idea by Paco Plaza, who directs it. Paco Plaza is known for VERONICA (2017), and EYE FOR AN EYE (2019). He also directs and writes Freddy, one of the stories of the recent HISTORIAS PARA NO DORMIR (2021). Carlos Vermut has written DIAMOND FLASH (2011), MAGICAL GIRL (2014) and QUIÉN TE CANTARÁ (2018).

Susana lives and works as a model in Paris. One night, while partying, she receives a call and is told that her grandmother, Pilar, had had a stroke. There is no more family, they only have each other, so Susana immediately travels to Madrid to take care of the old woman for a few days. The doctor tells her that the stroke had been so severe that she wouldn’t be able to recover and live alone anymore. While looking for someone to take care of her, Susana witnesses her physical and cognitive deterioration. Pilar laughs or mutters to herself for no apparent reason, remains completely silent for long periods, or screams as if she were possessed.

Both Paco Plaza and Carlos Vermut say that horror is a great genre for exploring universal issues because it gives us creative freedom. Themes such as the passing of time, the loss of youth and beauty, and the threat of aging related to mental illness are recurring themes, terrifying in themselves, illustrated in the film’s first part. For example, while Susana showers her grandmother, we see the naked body of an 86-year-old woman, far from the smooth, flawless skin we are used to seeing in the media, on social networks, or in advertising. Another example is a conversation between a photographer and some of Susana’s colleagues. They are models and we all know time works against you in this kind of career, especially if you are a woman. What the man says is that he’s fed up with young girls, he wants to photograph old women aged 25 or 30.

 So, the film delves into the theme of aging. You may be wondering how this is a horror film. It could be a drama about aging, mental deterioration, and how it affects both the sufferer and the family members who experience it from the outside. It is the atmosphere, the jump scares, the events that cannot be rationally explained, and how it gets darker as we get closer to the resolution and discover the secret behind the old woman’s behavior that makes it a horror film. But it could also be considered partly as a fantasy film.

Vera Valdez used to be a model in the fifties. Thanks to Coco Chanel she was introduced as the first Brazilian top model. I think Plaza is lucky to have worked with a woman willing to show herself naked at the age of 84 proving you can be comfortable with your body as it is, no matter how old you are or if your body doesn’t meet the beauty standards. The fact that she was a model, as Amor’s character is, adds another layer to the theme of the importance of youth and appearance.

Almudena Amor does a good job in general, although sometimes she looks insecure, something especially noticeable in the dialogues.

Overall, it is a good film with a simple but interesting script. I have to say that, despite its just 1 hour and 40 minutes long, there were moments when I got bored. I can see why: from the very beginning I imagined what the ending was going to be, and my prediction turned out to be pretty good. It’s not that I’m a fortune teller, it’s just that it was more obvious than I would have expected. It’s a pity, not only because I probably would have had more fun, but also because there was more room for the characters to develop and create doubts in the viewer.

THE GRANDMOTHER was released on January 28, 2022, in theaters, and it will be available on Prime Video from March 25.

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Beatriz Ayllón lives in Madrid. She has a degree in English language and literature. She is a teacher and web developer. She loves horror and sci-fi movies and books and researching narrative techniques. She contributes to a Spanish cinema website writing reviews and has collaborated on some streaming programs talking about true crimes. Currently, she is working on a short story collection.