This year, 22 Catalan films were selected for the 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival, highlighting the booming film industry in the region.
Among them are mammaldirected by Liliana Torres. The Barcelona-born filmmaker wanted to explore the subject of “non-maternity” – a woman’s decision not to have children – in response to the shame she personally felt.
Torres’ project, which opens in San Sebastian this week, follows Lola (Maria Rodríguez Soto) and Bruno (Anrique Oquier), two young men in their 40s happy relationship. As Lola watched her friends and family obsess over their babies or having babies, she was surprised to find out she was pregnant and wasn’t happy about it. With everyone around her connected to her mother’s experience, Lola struggles to overcome the idea that there’s something wrong with her.
The film is a poignant commentary on the social pressure on women to give in to what Torres says has been wrongly described as “instinct.” The film is also a celebration of Catalan as a language and as a region – after all, the Catalan government’s investment in film and television is increasing year by year, with an estimated budget of around €50 million ($54.5 million) ) ) in 2024.
Torres interviewed hollywood reporter On Spanish shores to discuss the issue of “non-maternity” and why Catalan cinema is at its best right now – especially for female filmmakers.
Congratulations on such a thought-provoking film. how to do it mammal Why did you want to make a film about this subject?
This is an ongoing topic for me. I knew from an early age that I didn’t want to have children. So when I was in my 20s, most people told me, “Oh no, that’s not what you think, that’s because you’re too young.” When I was in my 40s, people told me: ” You’re going to regret it.” So that’s a theme that’s stayed with me my whole life, mammal To me, it’s a way to create a little justice. Because all the women I mentioned who didn’t want to be mothers were once secondary characters, very stereotypical, very cliche, typical women who live alone and don’t like children or women who have a very high status job so she doesn’t have the time – but She did an amazing job and we forgave them. This doesn’t feel real to me. Like, there has to be a reason why I don’t want to be a mother. Why do I have to have a reason? I have no idea. That’s my reason. If I wanted to do something very superficial and trivial with my life, I could do that! That was the main reason I made this film, because I think we lack the reflection to stigmatize these women.
Do you think this stigma is specific to Spain?
No, for me, it’s global. It transcends every country. This has to do with traditional views of women – patriarchy places motherhood at the center of our lives as if that’s what our lives are worth. To the patriarchy, all other options seem futile. You know, what does a childless woman do with her life? It seemed like the question was: What was she going to do? This is questionable in a way, and it also takes us away from family life for a long time. We don’t have to raise children, which often takes women away from their careers.
“Unmaternal” is a word I’ve never seen used to describe the plot of a movie before.
We have a lot of clauses about not having children. To me, not having kids sounds like I’m a slave to my kids, and not having kids sounds like I’m missing something. Catalonia also has a technical, biological term for this, but we don’t often use it in conversation. It means “never put an egg in”. But for me, unmaternal [is suitable].
There are several elements in it mammal I want to ask. Lola saw her friends so desperate for children—or already had children—and discovered something was wrong with her own mind and body. So that pressure comes from there as well.
I still think it has to do with patriarchy, specifically the way they have taught us for so long that motherhood is instinctive. So you think, if motherhood is an instinct, what’s wrong with me? Physically, there must be something wrong with me. This is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time before I started studying. I read a lot of books, [French philosopher and feminist] Simone de Beauvoir’s understanding of motherhood has been of great help to me. I’ve read a lot of books that say motherhood is not an instinct, it’s just a social construct.
Even if you are the mother, it is your decision.
I wanted to ask about the support Lola receives from her partner Bruno. She admits becoming a parent would be much easier For men. Or at least an easier decision. So is a letter of support for Bruno as important as his support?
I want a pair [was] Really in love. They have been in a relationship for a long time and have discussed not having children. For me, the idea of having a supportive partner is very important. Because on the one hand, I’d say you can be great with your partner and have a great relationship, but that doesn’t make you long for kids. Even if this desire arises, like mammalthere is a reason for this. Even Bruno was very progressive, never imposing his wishes, always asking and offering: “I change my job” and so on. Still, there are some physical things to motherhood that you can’t escape. So, even with all that he offers, Lola knows that she’s going to have to leave a lot of the people in her life that she really likes, and that’s a fact you can’t escape.
Maria and Enric’s performances are wonderful. Great chemistry and I really believe they are a couple. You will be very pleased with the results.
They’re really good friends in real life, so that helps us a lot. They are all very good actors. I’m very grateful. Both were very professional and they really had a great time rehearsing, reading the scripts and talking about the topics. Moreover, they are also very different. For example, Maria quickly fell in love with Lola, who was humorous, sarcastic, and caring, yet very confident. For Enric, he is very used to playing men from a male perspective. Many times, he would start a conversation with Lola, like an argument, from a testosterone perspective. She’d say, “No, no, no, you’re not discussing, you’re just talking to her.” And he’d say, “Okay. I get it. We can talk about this. He learned something from Bruno’s character.” .
I would like to ask about being filmed in Catalan, representing Catalonia and what is the status of Catalan cinema in the industry?
Catalonia’s work is progressing very well, most importantly, on the author’s part. We have a lot of women who are writing. so you have [Barcelona native filmmaker] Carla Simon, winner of last year’s Berlin Film Festival.
We have a lot of names and writers who are going international, going out of Spain, and winning awards and status in Catalan, which is very important to us because keeping the language, keeping the culture, can sometimes become tricky. Because you have to dub movies so that they can be shown in many Spanish cinemas. This is too bad. Because it should be easier. We are in Spain, we should have subtitles.
Why do they have to insist on dubbing?
I think this is because exhibitors are always afraid to show a film with subtitles in Spain because people automatically abandon a film out of laziness and they don’t want to read it. This is also about mainstream culture. They see Catalonia and the Basque Country as separate cultures within Spain.
Do you think Catalan cinema is currently at its best in terms of production? There are 22 Catalan productions performed in San Sebastian this year.
As far as authorship goes, that’s for sure. The production volume, yes, quite a lot.
How important is it for you, being from Catalonia, to represent Catalonia on the big screen?
Of course, it’s important because it’s relevant to our culture, but it’s also important because there’s a big movement of female directors in Catalonia. In this sense, it is very important for us because we are slowly moving towards equality and I am happy that all these friends around me are receiving awards and debuting in the main part of the festival. I think this is a very important moment for Catalonia. I appreciate it. We have great support from the government.
Finally, what would you like to make a film about next? Is there something on the horizon?
I’m currently writing a script. This relates to two topics that are very close to me. One is menopause, which is something I started with at an early age but doesn’t get mentioned in public discussions. It changes your life even more than adolescence does—it’s more radical, both mentally and physically. But I relate it to climate change in a specific region of Catalonia, where resources are overexploited: water, air pollution, deforestation, mostly due to pork factory farms. So I connected these together to form a character and a landscape.
