Rotten Tomatoes
Submit search Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Forever Your Maternal Animal

Play trailer Poster for Forever Your Maternal Animal 2026 Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
90% Tomatometer 10 Reviews Popcornmeter 0 Ratings
After years studying in Europe, Elsa returns to Costa Rica to reunite with her family. She finds her younger sister living alone in the family home, growing increasingly distant and reclusive, as if slipping into a world of her own. Their parents, meanwhile, are absorbed in their own lives. Her father drifts through a series of affairs, while her mother is immersed in republishing the erotic poems of her youth, neither fully grasping the urgency of the situation. Elsa's return draws the three women into a confrontation with what still binds them, despite everything.

Critics Reviews

View More
Lé Baltar IndieWire May 18
B+
By underlining the complex contours of their lives, Maurel yields an empathetic, sensitively stirring work that flouts the readily legible image of motherhood and womanhood its title alludes to. Go to Full Review Sophie Monks Kaufman Little White Lies May 18
For much of the film, Maurel’s decision to withhold judgement on all of her characters builds intrigue. But as the film enters its final act, the narrative momentum falters, and it resorts to repetitive riffs on a punishing theme. Go to Full Review Louisa Moore Screen Zealots 1d
A melancholic exploration of sisterhood, parental absence, and the fear of watching someone slip away while feeling powerless to stop it. Go to Full Review Michael Sicinski In Review Online 1d
A forensic analysis on one generation abandoning the next, and the deleterious ideologies that are ready and waiting to fill that vacuum. Go to Full Review Kathia Woods Cup of Soul 5d
7/10
The performances are the film's beating heart. Daniela Marín Navarro, who won Best Actress at Locarno for Maurel's debut, brings an extraordinary stillness to Elsa—a woman who has crossed an ocean to outrun her past, Go to Full Review Carlos Esquives Cinencuentro 5d
Forever Your Maternal Animal, while its title evokes the maternal, feels like it's forcing itself to commit to that theme when its narrative focuses on family. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Cast & Crew

View All

Valentina Maurel

Director

Marina de Tavira

Actor

Reinaldo Amien

Actor

Daniela Marín Navarro

Actor

Mariangel Villegas

Actor

Valentina Maurel

Screenwriter
View All

Forever Your Maternal Animal

View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis After years studying in Europe, Elsa returns to Costa Rica to reunite with her family. She finds her younger sister living alone in the family home, growing increasingly distant and reclusive, as if slipping into a world of her own. Their parents, meanwhile, are absorbed in their own lives. Her father drifts through a series of affairs, while her mother is immersed in republishing the erotic poems of her youth, neither fully grasping the urgency of the situation. Elsa's return draws the three women into a confrontation with what still binds them, despite everything.
Director
Valentina Maurel
Producer
Benoit Roland, Grégoire Debailly
Screenwriter
Valentina Maurel
Production Co
Wrong Men, Geko Films, Pimienta Films
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Spanish