Dir: Eva Libertad | Cast: Miriam Garlo, Álvaro Cervantes, Elena Irureta, Joaquín Notario | Spain – 2025 – 100’
Directed by Eva Libertad and written by Nuria Muñoz, this good-looking, sympathetically told seaside drama started life as an original idea which has been extended from a shortish film to a full length feature all about Angela, a successful potter, who is happily married to Hector. She is deaf, but can lip-read.
There’s a fifty percent chance that the baby she’s expecting will also be deaf, according to the doctor. But Angela’s biggest hurdle is communicating with baby Ona, and the other mothers, and making new friends once the little one is born. Coming out of the comfort zone of her close family, who can use sign language, will certainly bring challenges. Clearly it’s going to be a tough road ahead, and one that puts pressure on Hector and Angela’s marriage.
Once baby Ona starts vocalising words such as ‘agua’ Angela feels the outsider in their once intimate twosome. Naturally, Hector wants to encourage his little daughter to speak and learn Spanish, and Angela feels excluded. The arrival of the first baby is always a time of adjustment and this is all the more so when one of three is unable to engage verbally as well as the other two. The director shows us Angela’s predicament when the film drifts into silence in the final stretch. We then appreciate Angela’s loneliness and sense of detachment, and we really feel for her in this sensitive study of loneliness within a loving marriage.
As a medium length film Sorda won several awards in Spanish festivals from 2022-3. Now as a full length feature it’s competing at Berlinale 2025. @MeredithTaylor
The Panorama Audience Award | BERLINALE 2025