Films about filmmaking often seem destined for film lovers only, to the detriment of everyone else. There are of course some great exceptions to that rule, such as Truffaut’s Day for Night, Fellini’s 8 ½ and Godard’s Contempt — or, this past year, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, which was a hit in Cannes that wound up winning an Oscar.
Still, the genre is a tough nut to crack and tends to yield the same old tales of tyrannical directors, insecure actors, overtaxed crew members and corrupt producers. Some, but not all, of those tropes are present in Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s behind-the-scenes drama The Beloved (El Ser Querido), which manages to add a few welcome twists to the formula. It also dishes out a heavy dose of on-set malaise that can be so unbearable to watch that at times you want to yell out “Cut!’
The Beloved
The Bottom Line
Disquiet on set.
