Venice Film Festival 2025, Calle Málaga Film Review

María Ángeles (Carmen Maura) lives alone in Tangier, Morocco, preparing her home to host her daughter Clara (Marta Etura), whom she hasn't seen in a year. She shops for groceries and cooks lunch, but Clara bluntly reveals the reason for her visit: she has financial problems, is divorced with two children, and has decided to sell the house her mother lives in, as her father had transferred ownership to her. Emotional collapse can come at any age, even when years seem to have tempered one's resilience. María is not immune to this, and refuses her daughter's solution of moving in with her in Madrid: instead, she agrees to stay in a retirement home, though harboring an unconventional spirit. She discharges herself from the nursing home and – unbeknownst to her daughter – returns to the house that hasn't yet been sold, reclaiming her furniture from an antique dealer.

Director Maryam Touzani offers a genuine, simple yet direct work with Calle Málaga, casting a sinister light on the responsibilities of children unable to grasp their elderly parents' needs, almost treating them like a bank account. Carmen Maura portrays a woman disappointed by her daughter's attitude, but as she tells her nun friend: "The more children grow, the more everything becomes incomprehensible." The film's lighthearted moments – such as María organizing football viewing parties to raise money – eventually give way to the new life she may have decided to pursue with a recently met man, the antique dealer who kept her furniture. Faced with this newfound resilience, her daughter's words no longer affect her: "Tomorrow morning I have an appointment with the notary. I wanted to let you know." At eighty, the new life is one that no longer looks to the past.