Mateo lives with his mother Libertad in a rose-tinted world: a microcosm which has precisely two inhabitants, mother and son. One day Mateo is diagnosed with cancer… There are few films which defy all the rules in order to tell an utterly realistic story, and La Pietá is one of them. We find ourselves in a reality where the mother exercises the same kind of power as the dictator governing North Korea. Just as toxic, just as absolute, and just as deadly.
Golly, this looks amazing, weird and unsettling.
Eduardo Casanova's La Piedad/La Pieta, a Spanish and Argentine co-production, will have its world premiere at the prestigious Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this July before hitting the world circuit. The teaser trailer premiered yesterday and we are able to share it with you today. It truly looks like boundry-pushing stuff.
Check out the teaser below. Fair warning - there is brief glimpses of frontal nudiy and simulated birthing. You're going to have to explain yourself if anyone is looking over shoulder. The full synopsis from the Karlovy Kary website follows.
Libertad lives a rosy, problem-free existence, enclosed in a microcosm with just enough room for her and her almost fully-grown son Mateo. Her name might mean “freedom” yet, where her son is concerned, this concept simply isn’t in her vocabulary. One day Mateo is diagnosed with cancer, yet Libertad's world doesn’t fall apart. On the contrary, she tightens up the rules and binds her son to her in such a way that his sense of self ceases to exist… There are few films which defy all the rules in order to tell an utterly realistic story, and La Pietá is one of them. Director Eduardo Casanova presents a singular, rose-tinted version of reality, where the mother exercises the same kind of power as the dictator governing North Korea. Just as toxic, just as absolute, and just as deadly.
La Piedad/La Pieta was written and directed by Casanova. It stars Macarena Gómez, Ángela Molina, Ana Polvorosa, Daniel Freire, Antonio Durán, María León, Alberto Jo Lee, Manel Llunell, Meteora Fontana, and Songa Park.