“La Mesias” paints a gripping portrait of a toxic and ravaged mother – rts.ch

One evening, Enric (Roger Casamajor) has a shock. Assistant director on a film dedicated to the appearance of the Black Madonna at the foot of the Montserrat mountain – a strange Catalan sanctuary which also attracts ardent UFO enthusiasts – he discovered a viral video from a Catholic group on the Internet.

Immediately, he understands that the six young singers moving on the screen are his half-sisters. Dressed in kitsch dresses, they sing “Stella Maris”, named after the house where he grew up with his sister Irene (Macarena Garcia). Raised by a tyrannical mother, they fled her for a long time.

At the head of a sewing business, married and living frugally, Irene is also devastated by this clip. When Enric contacts her, she rejects him, blames him for abandoning her and admits that she has never forgiven him. But Enric persists. He wants to save the young girls from this crazy mother, a dangerous woman who claims to be the voice of God on Earth. Together, they will try to find their family who live outside of any system.

A complex narrative puzzle

Proceeding in small steps at a slow pace, the action navigates between three colliding decades, the 1980s, 1990s and 2010s. The deliberately detailed narration with a lot of flashbacks composes a complex puzzle full of cinematic references and where the mixture of genres becomes the norm.

The tone can thus shift from one scene to another, from an oppressive psychological thriller to a joyful musical comedy or from a distressing fantasy film to a moving family drama. The only constant in this remarkable fresco remains this mother who crosses the ages.

Masterfully interpreted by Ana Rujas, Lola Duenas and Carmen Machi, the character of the mother, Montserrat Baro, disturbs as much as he captivates. At the beginning, she separated from her husband, leaving the marital home with a bang, her children Enric and Irene under her arm. Aware of her power to attract males, she parties, takes drugs, gets drunk, gets laid. An unworthy and depraved mother, she will go so far as to prostitute herself so that her children have a roof over their heads and food on their plate.

The new life under the influence of Opus Dei

Soon, Pep (Albert Pla), an enigmatic character who was silently observing him, offers him his hand and his bible. She agrees to follow him. Sequestered by this strict man claiming to be from Opus Dei, the little reconstituted family begins a new modest life in a ruined shack removed from the world. Here, you have to be satisfied with the minimum, eat your soup in silence, cultivate the garden without flinching, praise God and go straight.

The years go by, the siblings grow. The cantankerous, mean, violent and angry mother reprimands and humiliates her children at the slightest opportunity until the day God speaks to her and commands her to sacrifice her daughters. From now on, they will sing and dance to spread her good word, while she, for a fee, will act as an intermediary between the afterlife and the faithful ready to believe in her gift.

The tyranny of the mother and the sacrifice of daughters

With this character with a strong and powerful character, a tornado that nothing and no one can contain, not even God, “La Mesias” fascinates. Religious fanaticism and its sectarian excesses are dissected here with remarkable finesse. The irrevocable devastation caused by a disturbed woman on the children she deprives of life, while convincing herself that she is doing their good, gives goosebumps. His desire for absolute domination over his tribe troubles as much as it questions.

Double awarded at the Séries Mania Festival in Lille – best production in the International Panorama and Student Prize section -, “La Mesias” offers a look at motherhood, sorority, childhood and the powerlessness of public assistance in the face of such a phenomenon as a series has rarely offered.

Packaged in a dense work, its only fault is undoubtedly the length of the seven episodes, which never last less than 65 minutes.

Philippe Congiusti/sf

“La Mesias”, by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, seven episodes to watch on Arte.tv until November 14, 2025.