Writer: Isabel Peña and Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Director: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Shot almost entirely in close-up with some mid-shots, Isabel Peña and Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s film The Beloved is the first of many stories at the BFI London Film Festival 2026 that take a look at the industry itself, at actors, directors and, in later films, leading playwrights. The Beloved places an awkward family situation behind the camera while Peña and Sorogoyen explore estrangement between a father and his adult daughter, power dynamics on and off set, as well as the changes in the movie industry where toxic behaviour is called out. But the writers retain some empathy for both leads, asking whether the process of making great art must be underpinned by controversial methods?
Director Esteban has returned to Spain after years in Hollywood as a famous and revered auteur. For his next film, he wants to hire the daughter he hasn’t seen for 13-years who is now an independent actor, but hearing of his aggressive reputation, Emilia hesitates. A complex shoot unfolds as father and daughter clash, Emilia unable to get passed her resentment while Esteban finds the undermining of his power tough to take affecting everyone on set.
Sorogoyen, as Director, keeps the camera incredibly intimate, referencing an old cinema belief that this allows the character to come out, giving the actor nowhere to hide. That proves true for Javier Bardem playing Esteban and Victoria Luengo playing Emilia who begin the film in a long and intense dialogue over lunch. Peña and Sorogoyen have the ability to write and then shoot scenes that twist and evolve becoming much more than the innocent encounter they began as. And as these characters spend more time together in this first moment, far more is revealed about their background, their relationship and their different pain points.
The force of this is noticeable throughout the film, using the confrontational proximity of the camera to remove any façade, allowing the simmering resentments, moments of opportunity and little hurts to emerge. This builds as The Beloved unfolds, creating points of no return and the false impressions individuals have of themselves, and a key scene filming a lunch on set becomes a battleground as well as a confirmation of Esteban’s darker, controlling side which he has been at pains to conceal.
Peña and Sorogoyen also enjoy showcasing the process of moviemaking, the different groups of people involved and how different teams interact to create the final film. All of this is nicely built into character behaviour, designed to tell us more about how Esteban and Emilia behave in a professional context and the work that emerges from it.
Anchored by unflinching portraits from Bardem and Luengo, Sorogoyen’s close-up technique is riveting and revealing about the film industry and all the people who want to make them at any cost.
The Beloved is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2026 from 7-18 October.
