El vínculo mortal. La relación madre-hija en Quién te cantará (Carlos Vermut, 2018)

Abstract

The relationship between mothers and daughters is a theme of growing interest in contemporary Spanish cinema. Despite the abundant corpus on the filmic representation of motherhood, this bond has hardly been specifically addressed. Focusing on gender studies and taking into account horror cinema and melodrama in the treatment of this topic, this article analyses the aesthetic and narrative conventions that have guided the representation of this maternal-filial bond in feature films produced in Spain in recent years. Taking Carlos Vermut's third film as the case of study, I conclude that though Quien te cantara (2018) maintains some of the traditional motifs that had shaped the negative representation of kinship between mothers and daughters, it also expands maternity archetypes. Portraying unorthodox models of motherhood, Quien te cantara is one of the few films that presents the conflict from the mother’s and daughter’s point of view simultaneously, questioning an idealized image of this bond.