May 16, 2026 11:30am PT

‘The Beloved’ Review: Javier Bardem Is Powerful as a Filmmaker Directing His Estranged Daughter in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Making-of-a-Movie Drama

It echoes the central relationship in "Sentimental Value," though this one has serious fun with the filmmaking process.

Owen Gleiberman

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Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

@OwenGleiberman

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Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival

Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beloved” is the story of a famous film director, Esteban Martínez (Javier Bardem), who returns to his native Spain to shoot a movie in the desert and hires his estranged actress daughter, Emilia (Victoria Luengo), to play one of the leads. He claims that she’s the best one for the role, but we assume he’s doing it to mend fences (he is). That makes the movie sound a lot like “Sentimental Value,” in which Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve played similar roles. The two films overlap in numerous ways. But “The Beloved,” unlike “Sentimental Value,” really is one of those movies about the making of a movie, like “Day for Night” or “The Stunt Man.” It’s a meaty and enjoyable entry in the genre, one that updates it to the present day, when it’s not as easy as it once was for a director to bully a cast and crew (and Esteban, make no mistake, is something of a bully).

'The Beloved' Review: Javier Bardem Is Powerful as a Filmmaker Directing His Estranged Daughter in Rodrigo Sorogoyen's Making-of-a-Movie Drama