Holy Mother (film)

Holy Mother or The Abbess (La abadesa) is a 2024 Spanish-Belgian historical drama film written and directed by Antonio Chavarrías inspired by the life of Emma of Barcelona starring Daniela Brown as the title character alongside Blanca Romero and Carlos Cuevas.

Plot
In the 9th century, 17-year-old Emma is tasked with leading an abbey and Christianizing and repopulating borderland territories upon the death of her father.

Production
The film is an Oberon Media (Mónica Lozano and Antonio Chavarrías), Wanda Visión (Miguel Morales and José María Morales), and Icono 2020 AIE production in co-production with Belgium's Saga Film (Hubert Toint), with the participation of RTVE, TV3 and Aragón TV. Shooting locations included Loarre and La Seu Vella.

Release
The film made it to the main competition of the 27th Málaga Film Festival, with a debut date set for 7 March 2024. Distributed by Wanda Visión, it was released theatrically in Spain on 22 March 2024.

Reception
Juan Pando of Fotogramas rated the "austere" film 3 out of 5 stars, singling out "the beautiful simplicity chosen for the mise-en-scène" as the best thing about the film, while negatively citing the sometimes excessively long-winded writing.

Javier Ocaña of El País deemed the film, "overlong and without sufficient plot and emotional handholds", to be "a product that is hardly reprehensible, but which is unlikely to find its audience".