52 Films by Women Vol 10. 20. ROMERÍA (Director: Carla Simón)
If a father chooses
to edit his version of reality for the purpose of appearances, should he be
forced to acknowledge the truth for the sake of his granddaughter? This is the dilemma
posed in Spanish writer-director Carla Simón’s third feature, Romería (an informal Spanish word meaning ‘pilgrimage’). Set in July 2004, and drawing
heavily on her mother’s diaries, quoted in voiceover but underpinning a fictional
narrative, Simón’s film follows five days in the life of Marina (Llúcia Garcia),
an eighteen-year-old would-be film student who requires a document to confirm
that she is the daughter of Alfonso (‘Fon’) Piñeiro, who died in the late 1980s
before she was born, at least as far as she knows. When Marina travels to the
records office in the Galician coastal town of Vigo, her first surprise is that
her father died five years later than she thought. Even more shocking, his
death certificate does not indicate that he has a daughter. The official record
can be amended, but it requires the signature of Marina’s paternal grandparents,
a respected port owner and his wife.
Marina does not meet
her grandparents until the fourth day of her trip; the chapter heading poses
the question, ‘can you be family if you share the same blood?’ Each chapter features
a date and a question. The structure mirrors Marina’s mother’s own diary.
The first image we
see is of a yacht, recorded on a mini-digital video camera that Marina uses,
its sail a golden fin floating above the water. The intense reflected sunlight
obscures details, making the object – the yacht – seem less real. Simon shot
the digital footage herself, with the remainder of the film photographed by
celebrated cinematographer Hélène Louvart, whose recent work includes The Salt Path and Eleanor The Great.
There is one scene, involving Marina climbing a rope ladder up a very tall
building, that made me gasp, as well as a surreal dance sequence. Much of Romería involves Marina being introduced to family members whom she had never previously
met, having been raised by foster parents in Catalonia; her mother also died. While
waiting to see her grandparents, she spends her evenings on the family boat,
commandeered for the summer by Marina’s paternal uncle, Lois (Tristán Ulloa),
whose sons include Nuno (Mitch), whose help Marina eventually requests.
Lois’ brother Iago
(Alberto Garcia) is more open with Marina, acknowledging Alfonso’s addiction to
heroin (or ‘horse’, as it is known colloquially). ‘Father didn’t understand,’
he later explains. ‘Fon didn’t choose horse. Horse latched on to him.’ Marina
learns that after Fon contracted AIDS (SIDA in Spanish), he was hidden away by
his parents. He was never allowed to meet his daughter. We aren’t told whether he
attended Marina’s mother’s funeral. Lois’ children encourage Marina to join
them for a swim in the Atlantic Ocean. Marina does so, noting that it is colder
than the Mediterranean, where she grew up. The inference is that her father’s
family from the north west coast of Spain is much colder than her mother’s,
based in the north east.
Children feature
less prominently in Romería than in Simón’s previous features, Estiu 1993 and Alcarràs, though
Marina has plenty of cousins. She observes, usually through her digital camera,
rather than engage in conversations with those nearer her own age. She also
refuses alcohol, cigarettes and pills, ostensibly because of her father. She is
given a red dress by an aunt who pins it onto her in order to adjust it. Marina
wears it when she meets her grandparents.
‘What would it have
been like if my father’s family had raised me?’ Marina asks in one of the
chapter headings. She is shown the port from which her grandfather made his
fortune on her second day; his surname (Piñeiro) is prominently displayed. One
of her uncles only turns up at family gatherings when he needs something; her
cousins aren’t especially close to their parents. Like Fon, Iago is an addict,
though enslaved to alcohol, not drugs. There is a lot of pain under the
surface. Marina is not in a position to dig too deeply.
Simón shows the
family at a remove from Marina. In portraying a fictionalised version of
events, the director doesn’t want to be too accusatory. The film builds to Marina’s
visit, along with her aunts, uncles and cousins to her grandparents’ house for
lunch. Her paternal grandmother (Marina Troncoso) instructs the children that
they cannot use the pool, or rather, if they do so, they must wash first.
Naturally, the children don’t follow this instruction. Their impatience and the
temptation of the pool lead to rule breaking. Marina notices Iago creeping
about the house attempting not to draw attention to himself. Still, at a
certain point, the children are summoned to form a line in front of grandfather
(José Ángel Egido). He asks some of the children whether they have been good at
school, for the others he remarks about their appearance. The exchange ends
with him giving each child a 50 Euro note. Marina is encouraged to join the
line. Her grandfather asks what she intends to study. ‘Cinema,’ she replies.
Grandfather reaches into a different drawer and gives her an envelope full of
cash. Marina refuses, stating that she will get a scholarship. Grandfather is
insistent. Marina takes the envelope and leaves. The next child also tells Grandfather
that he wants to study cinema.
The cash payment is
clearly intended to compensate for not amending the official record of Fon’s
death. Marina is uncomfortable with this. The children are told that they
cannot attend a local festival. Marina persuades Nuno to steal his parents’ car
and take her back to her grandparents’ house. Then they will both go to the festival.
Nuno helps Marina climb the security wall. She places the envelope of cash
under a mat. Then she walks to the back of the house and fills the swimming
pool with leaves, an expression of her outrage at attempting to be bought off.
At the festival with
Nuno, Marina is given a pill. It is unclear whether she takes it. At this point,
the film abandons naturalism. First in the form of a dance sequence, though not
before Marina sees Iago and notes his drunkenness. Then in a scene in which she
steals a rowing boat and apparently climbs to the top of a building on a
conveniently placed rope ladder; the building is in Torella, where her parents
lived, though some of her family misremembers. There she meets her parents (also
played by Llúcia Garcia and Mitch, the former wearing her hair differently).
What follows is an
extended sequence in which Marina’s future parents cavort naked on the beach
and go swimming, as Marina’s mother’s diary entries are narrated in voiceover;
Simón uses animation to one of her doodles to life, a face suddenly opening its
mouth. The couple heat up then inject heroin. Whilst out sailing, they are
caught by a coast guard, accused of being drug smugglers. The extended
flashback doesn’t feature Fon’s family or friends. It focuses on a dream going
sour.
On the fifth day –
chapter heading, ‘I like the sea here’ – Marina faces her grandparents. Her
grandmother describes her as rude. Nevertheless, the old couple appear before
an official to amend Fon’s death certificate, insisting that their son’s cause
of death was Hepatitis C. ‘SIDA,’ corrects Marina, no longer quiet. ‘He died of
AIDS.’
Simón’s decision to
show Marina’s parents as imagined by her is bold. In a conventional drama, a
change of heart is achieved through action. Here, Marina’s returning of money
and act of vandalism wouldn’t necessarily achieve the effect she desired. It is
unclear what changed her grandfather’s mind. Perhaps it was the intervention of
other family members. The ‘flashback’ balances romanticism with sober truth. ‘I never learned how to drive the boat,’
Marina’s mother writes, ‘but I picked up things from Fon.’ Marina’s mother’s
diary abruptly ends in an unsatisfying way; Simón’s film follows suit. Romería does not elicit a strong emotional response from its audience. We aren’t
moved by Marina’s victory or even her concession that she does indeed like the
Atlantic. Simón presents a problem that she asks her audience to consider, the
extent to which families can function happily without truly talking. A song by
Lole y Mañuel, ‘Tu Mirá’ describing a look that ‘drives into my eyes like a
blade’, is referenced twice.
Reviewed at Curzon Westgate Screen Three, Canterbury, Kent, Southern England, Wednesday 29 April 2026, 18:00 screening
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