The Daughter (La Hija)

Javier (Javier Gutiérrez) meets with teenager Irene (Irene Virgüez) amidst the stunning landscape of Andalucia. Asking if she’s thrown away her mobile she excitedly says yes and she’s whisked away to Javier’s large, isolated rural home. Where they meet his wife Adela (Patricia López Arnaiz) who takes Irene to ‘the biggest room she has ever had’.

By any measure, this isn’t your usual adoption or foster and as the film settles down the characters and motives develop, playing with the sympathies of the viewer. But the basics are that Irene is a teen in a detention centre away from her drug addict mother and pregnant by her boyfriend Osman (Sofian El Benaissati) who is doing time though set to be released.

The disappearance of the girl sets of a search that pulls in Javier who is a teacher at the centre. And while Irene is at first happy where she is, soon begins to bore of the place and wants to see Osman. An illicit excursion out of the house leads to her being caught on CCTV, which tips off the cops, increasing the pressure on Javier and Adela who take stricter measures to ensure Irene stays put.

There’s not a great complicated plot to The Daughter and the viewer will soon work out what is going on. However the depth of this film is with the principal characters who are beautifully drawn by Alejandro Hernández and director Manuel Martín Cuenca, then brilliantly interpreted by the actors.

Their development is steady as Irene gradually understands what is happening to her and the feelings she has towards her unborn child, with which she tries to manipulate Javier and Adela.

They in turn while earlier eliciting some sympathy for their situation quickly lose it as they apply ever tighter control over Irene. That coupled with their lies and absolute arrogance that they know what is best for Irene tips things towards her, whom the seriously underestimate.

Cuenca carefully layers the story over the two-hour running time – though the story plays over a longer period as we see the changing seasons and landscapes - never missing a beat. His use of location and sound is terrific, there’s a suspenseful scene where a policeman is looking around the house that relies almost entirely on the visuals and sound. This all leads to an ending that may divide though for me it was fine if somewhat signposted over the course of the film.

The Daughter was presented at the London Spanish Film Festival 2022.