Back home

Mother

82 votes

An everyday conversation between Marta and her mother turns into a tragic race against the clock when Marta receives a phone call from Iván, her six-year-old son, who is on holiday in France with his father.

Status: Released

Released Date: 2017-03-10

Runtime: 18 mins

Director: Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Spoken language: Français, Español

Genres: Drama, Thriller

Original title: Mother

Production Companies: Caballo Films, Malvalanda, Apaches Films

Production Countries: Spain

Cast

Elena

Marta Nieto

Iván (voice)

Álvaro Balas

Marta's Mother

Blanca Apilánez

Police Officer (voice)

Miriam Correa

Reviews

Geronimo1967

There’s often an overuse of the telephone to create drama in films, but this short feature uses the intensity of a series of conversations to really good effect. “Elena” (Marta Nieto) and her mum (Blanca Apilánez) are putting away the shopping when she gets a call. It turns out to be her young son, who is on holiday in France with his dad but who has now found himself all alone on the beach. Becoming increasingly frantic, she talks to the lad whilst her mother tag-teams on another phone trying to find the father, calling the police and helping to keep the boy calm as the general level of freneticism rises degree by degree into little short of panic. It all takes place in a large apartment with both characters frequently in shot at the same time, reacting quite differently, and at the end, well… There are two convincing performances for us here, and I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t get any parent sitting slightly less comfortably in their chair as they watch.

2026-02-13

Recommendations

La Jetée

1962-02-16

A man confronts his past during an experiment that attempts to find a solution to the problems of a

The Red Color of the Second Planet

2024-03-06

Against the background of ongoing hostilities, either real or in his personal life, Musa is faced wi

Lily + Mara

2017-08-10

The beach is probably the worst place to take a wheelchair-bound patient with a compromised immune s

Evolutio

1994-09-01

Birth growing and gathering of a family which is not even an average one

Thule

2011-04-13

In 1962, a group of young men, stationed at a remote Air Force base, band together to undergo a dang

Kino Kopf

2024-04-25

Born from steel and glass Kino Kopf is created by two inventors. They are assembled by their mother,

3.8

Crossfade

2025-07-17

Two lifelong friends and aspiring musicians begin to spiral downwards as one of them decides to move

Dirty Laundry

2012-12-01

The story of a guy trying to get his washing done, late one fateful night.

Arum

2023-08-15

A single mother struggles to raise her only daughter on her own.

4.2

Rear Window

1954-08-01

A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinc

1.8

Adrift

2012-01-01

Four friends trapped on a boat, drift through a series of terrifying encounters.

The Sixth Sense

1999-08-06

Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Co

Mosholu Parkway

2019-11-11

Mosholu Parkway is a short film comedy about a day in the life of a raucus family during World War I

Descent

2003-01-08

One last desperate chance of redemption.

1.8

Stockholm Daybreak

2013-11-13

At the break of dawn, teenagers Axel and Love are on the way home after a night out partying. As the

2.4

Supermarket Sweep

1991-01-01

2.8

Protozoa

1993-01-01

Darren Aronofsky’s AFI short opens with angry slacker Dave sitting in a dreary, empty junkyard. Dave

2.8

12 Points

2015-05-01

Jonas's father expresses his enthusiasm about Conchita Wurst's victory at the Eurovision Song Contes

King Kong

2013-09-25

Born on 1988 in Athens Zoo and abandoned by his mother, silver-back gorilla Ivo has never been able