Sightlines · reception

How The Beloved was received

2026 · Rodrigo Sorogoyen · The Beloved on Sightlines

The arc

Fresh out of Competition at Cannes 2026, where it landed some of Javier Bardem's best notices in years — far too new for a reappraisal arc, but it arrived billed as Sorogoyen's most intimate film after the thrillers.

What’s debated

The early split: those floored by the Bardem–Victoria Luengo two-hander versus those who find the film around it baggy — and Sorogoyen diehards arguing over where it ranks against As Bestas and The Realm.

Its footprint

The talking point is the opening: an 18-minute father-daughter reunion in a Madrid restaurant that Spanish outlets have covered so obsessively the real restaurant (Bascoat) got its own press cycle.

Where it stands

Too young for canon — currently living as 'the new Sorogoyen', the latest in his run of co-writes with Isabel Peña and an instant entry in the films-about-filmmaking conversation.

Did you know? Sorogoyen shot the opening restaurant reunion on the very first day of filming and deliberately kept Bardem and Victoria Luengo from rehearsing together beforehand, so the estrangement on screen was real — the cameras ran for roughly 90 minutes almost uninterrupted, of which about 20 made the cut.