The Beloved Ending Explained And Movie Recap

The human brain really is a piece of work, as one can never guess what it’s up to. You might be thinking something and when it comes to action, it contradicts the original thought so hard that you’re left flabbergasted. As social creatures, we humans have really made a mess out of the very few important relationships we have to maintain. Even genuinely kind people end up failing when it comes to sustaining a bond with their kids or partners, that’s just the horribly sad fact one must live with. Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s drama feature “El Ser Querido” or “The Beloved” is a very fresh take on a father-daughter relationship, and what I love most is how the director manages to capture the very essence of the things that we fail to utter or express, something that feels different from a perfectly scripted screenplay. Javier Bardem and Victoria Luengo play the lead characters, and I absolutely loved their scenes together, as the chemistry between these two feels effortless and incredibly natural. It’s also very interesting to see Bardem play an aging filmmaker who’s won all the praise one possibly can, except the respect and love from the people closest to him. Society is way too lenient with successful dudes, since we barely acknowledge their flaws, which are perfectly camouflaged by their fame. But seeing Bardem lose his mind and scream at the actors for having a bit of fun is probably one of the best scenes I’ve had the privilege of watching this year. The cinematography deserves all the praise as well, as Alex de Pablo captures the scenic island of Fuerteventura beautifully, while the few scenes that turn monochrome are a great example of how to keep the audience engaged without relying solely on dialogue or acting.

Spoilers Ahead

What happens in the film?

Esteban is a two time Oscar winner filmmaker, with a horde of commercially successful films in his filmography as well. But he still feels awkward when he meets his daughter, Emilia, at a restaurant after a long time. The two of them are so disconnected that it takes you a while to realise their relationship with each other. Esteban left New York and recently moved back to Spain, closer to his roots, with his wife, Alice, and two kids. Emilia is a small-time actor who’s worked on a few projects, but she’s now working at a bar where she feels content enough. Esteban mentions that he’s watched a television series where Emilia has a role, and even though the series itself is mind numbingly boring and bland, her acting stood out for him. So he offers her the pivotal role of his new film, “Desert,” where he plans to portray the political and social conditions in the Western Sahara in 1932. The Spanish officially control the territory, and the film takes place around a fort, based on the life of a lieutenant and the uprising of the natives against Spanish colonialism.  Emilia is offered the role of Gabriela, who falls in love with the lieutenant, and chases a life of thrill and adventure rather than staying in Madrid and spending a mundane life. The cast of the film is pretty star studded, and even though Emilia asks Esteban if she’s getting this role because she’s his daughter, he assures her that’s not the case. Esteban really thinks Emilia is the perfect for the character, but when the topic shifts to how he used to take her out to watch films when Emilia was young, things take a turn. While that remains one of Esteban’s fondest memories, all Emilia remembers is that her father showed up drunk at one such movie night, argued with people, got into a fight, and put her in a taxi back home. Emilia was so embarrassed that she didn’t tell his mother about any of it, since she already hated her husband. Esteban straight up denies this accusation, but from the look of his face, you get the sense that he’s gaslighting his own daughter who’s not a child anymore. He pins this on Emilia’s mother, Charo, as he tries to insinuate that she groomed Emilia to hate him. But Emilia is in a disbelief that Esteban would go to such lengths to stay in denial, but she decides to take the opportunity to star in her father’s film anyway. Maybe deep down, the only reason she agrees to work with him is that she needs some answers from her absentee father, and the distance between them wouldn’t allow it to happen otherwise.

Is Esteban happy with Emilia’s work? 

Charo is extremely anxious to drop her daughter off to let her spend a few months with Esteban, since she remembers how he used to be, who’d drink first and then do anything else. But after fumbling one family, Esteban looks like he’s turned it around, since he only drinks sparkling water now, and tries his best to avoid fights and chaos. The first few days of the shoot go without any hiccups, and Esteban gets to see his daughter shine with veteran actors, which makes him feel validated about his own decision of casting her. However, he loses his calm when a journalist accuses him of nepotism, and his support staff cancels the interview midway. Along with the shooting, Esteban is also doing an audio commentary for the Blu-ray edition of his first feature film, “Siroco.” This film also featured Charo, but young Esteban was quite the menace during the making of this film. One night, when Esteban comes down to the hotel bar to ask for his sparkling water, he observes Emilia with the rest of the cast, and she’s having a really good time with them, reminiscing about a past lover who was a kleptomaniac. Esteban also likes the little gestures Emilia makes while talking, as he feels they make his daughter less stiff than actors in period films usually are. Later on, when the whole cast is discussing how big of a genius Esteban is, Emilia leaves the room, and she notices a familiar pattern in her father. When one of the actors, Malena, asks Emilia about it, she reveals that while Esteban feels that shooting “Siroco” was one of his best filmmaking experiences, Charo remembers the same time as completely different. She left Esteban soon after the shooting was over, and also didn’t let Emilia see him until she was nine. To make things even more bitter, Emilia notices Esteban having lunch with his family, and she wonders what his two little kids must feel like, an experience she never had. She starts drinking a bit too much wine, and when Esteban introduces her to Alice and the kids, she subtly snaps at them. 

Why does Esteban get mad at Emilia? 

Emilia goes to meet Esteban in his room one night, and they talk about the shoot, along with how she’s feeling on the set. Esteban claims that Emilia needs to work on her character a little bit, giving a weird anecdote about masks as well. After that, Esteban goes on lecturing Emilia about her drinking problem, and he compares his old self to her, which essentially boils down to him saying that one shouldn’t drink and push people away. Now Emilia is nothing like him, and she might drink a couple of glasses of wine here and there, but she’s done nothing to deserve this lecturing. She proceeds to leave, but then she changes her mind and expresses very clearly that she’s come here to work, not to be his daughter. Emilia also calls her father out for being a horrible person when he used to drink, and that there’s literally nothing common between them. This hurts Esteban’s fragile ego a bit too much, and you start seeing the consequences of it the next day of shooting. There’s a sequence where all the actors are sitting on a dining table and discussing stuff, but the actors are kinda horrified by the fact that they’ll have to eat Mackerel so early in the morning. Esteban bashes Cesar for not eating properly in the shot, and despite multiple takes, Esteban keeps coming out of his camp just to shout at Cesar. He also lashes out at the DOP for no reason, and when everything seems to be in order, the actors can’t take Esteban seriously anymore. The fact that such a veteran filmmaker is losing his mind over a simple scene is funny to them, and every time Esteban tries to film the scene, they start bursting  into laughter. Emilia asks her castmates to stop, but they really don’t, and Esteban now targets Emilia for not holding the spoon right. For the next few takes, Esteban shouts at his daughter for no good reason, and one of the child actors starts to cry seeing the big man yell so much. This nightmare finally ends when Emilia can’t hold her tears back any longer, and Esteban really isolates himself from the cast and crew here. 

Does Esteban take accountability for being a bad father? 

After the horrible fiasco, Pepa, the director of photography, decides to leave the film along with her team. Esteban tries to reason with her, but his hubris wouldn’t let him genuinely apologize to her, and she can see through his insensitive pleading. The production comes to a halt, and Esteban’s team manages to bring another genius DOP, Nakai. Even though Nakai is close with Pepa and shares the same agent as her, he agrees to come down and finish the shooting. Esteban asks his cast to stay put and hold the fort for a while, and even though he’s lost the respect of everyone who’s working, they decide to be professional about it. We see Emilia acting in front of a mirror, pretending to be her father, how he talks and gives her advice she doesn’t need. The shooting of “Desert” ends with a scene in a tiny room, where Emilia and the film’s other two leads dance and engage in a threesome, almost as if the scene were lifted straight out of “The Dreamers.” Before leaving the set, Emilia sits down with her father one last time, and asks if he finally acknowledges the tremendous mental damage he’s caused on her. They share a sandwich, and Esteban once again tries to blame it on the circumstances and the fact that Emilia only knows things from her mother’s perspective. But Emilia refuses to entertain the gaslighting anymore, and by now, Esteban knows he can’t be uttering anything but jargon and hopes that his daughter will be okay with it. He finally admits that he is aware of the pain he caused in Emilia’s life, and apparently, he feels terrible about it. 

The father and daughter part ways after this conversation, and just like her mother, Emilia too, didn’t have a great experience working with him in a film. The distance between them was always a thorn that stung them both, perhaps Emilia more than Esteban. But the fact that he finally acknowledges and takes accountability for being a terrible father is a good thing for Emilia’s peace of mind, who goes back to her tiny apartment with a lot more peace and less heartache. She continues her job at the bar as a person who’s more in touch with herself, and Esteban too, gets to see his daughter match the huge actors step by step when he’s sitting in the editing room. His decision of bringing Emilia in to work with him wasn’t wrong, as both of them got to know each other better, and maybe the next time they meet, there will be a little less resentment from Emilia, who never got to see her father the way his other kids do. 

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