Libertad (film)

A coming-of-age story portraying class struggle from the point of view of the privileged class,[1] the fiction follows the friendship between Nora (a rich privileged girl) and Libertad (the daughter of Rosana, the family's Colombian domestic worker),[2][3] as the former spends the holidays at her grandmother Ángela's summerhouse in the Costa Brava.[4][5]

Libertad (Clara Roquet's debut feature film)[8] is a joint Spain–Belgium co-production and it was produced by Lastor Media and Avalon P.C. alongside Bulletproof Cupid with support from MEDIA, ICAA, ICEC, Eurimages, RTVE, TV3, Movistar+ and Catalan Films.[9]

Filmed in Catalonia in the Summer of 2019,[10] shooting locations included Barcelona, Blanes, Garraf, Lloret de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres.[11]

The film had its world premiere at the Cannes' 60th International Critics' Week on 8 July 2021.[12] It also screened as the opening film of the 66th Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci) on 23 October 2021.[13] Co-distributed by Avalon and Elastica,[9] it was theatrically released in Spain on 19 November 2021.

Eulàlia Iglesias of Fotogramas gave Libertad 4 out of 5 stars, deeming it to be "a debut film that brings to the surface with remarkable subtlety an everyday inequality".[4] She highlighted María Morera and Nicolle García, whereas she negatively pointed out that the choice of characters exclusively speaking Spanish felt forced.[4]

Beatriz Martínez of El Periódico de Catalunya gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, presenting it as "a perfectly woven story about class differences, inequalities, mother-son relationships, teen friendship and the youthful yearning to discover the world".[2]

Philippe Engel of Cinemanía gave it 4½ out of 5 stars, considering that Roquet "constructs a prodigious visual and sound montage".[3]

Anton Merikaetxebarria of El Correo gave the film 2 out of 3 stars, considering that the director resolves the underlying coming-of-age story with the required "sensitivity and good taste".[14]

Reviewing for Mondo Sonoro, J. Picatoste Verdejo, gave it 8 out of 10 points; they presented Libertad as a film about oblique affections, considering however that the entanglement of unrequited affections laid out in the plot is presented in a measured balance.[15]

Wendy Ide of ScreenDaily wrote that Roquet's "filmmaking is light of touch and instinctively perceptive, honing in on the tiny details which are magnified through the lens of adolescence", likening her craft to that of Céline Sciamma and Lucrecia Martel.[16]

• List of Spanish films of 2021
• List of films that depict class struggle

• Libertad at ICAA's Catálogo de Cinespañol