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Three Days with the Family (Tres dies amb la família)

Mar Coll
Spain / 2009 / 86 min / Catalan and Spanish with English subtitles

One of the most impressive Spanish debut features of the last years, Three days with the family tells the story of Léa (Nausicaa Bonnín), a 21-year-old girl who returns home to attend her grandfather’s funeral. Though Lea’s parents have long been separated, her mother reappears for the funeral to keep up appearances. Lea’s father Josep Maria, the son of deceased patriarch Pere, is a sensitive man who listens to impassioned opera but is emotionally so withdrawn that he can’t get close to his daughter. Her French mother Joelle drinks to hide her sadness. Not surprisingly, Lea’s a loner and distraught by all the family stress; on top of everything else, her boyfriend is just breaking up with her.Often hilarious, this amusing semi-autobiographical film by 28-years-old Spanish director Mar Coll, proffers an observant study of rituals of grief in a bourgeois household where little can be aired openly and hypocrisy rules.

Mar Coll was born in Barcelona in 1981. When she was 18 she started studying at ESCAC (Superior School of Cinema and Audiovisuals of Catalonia) from which she graduated, having majored in directing. Her final graduation project was the short film The Last Polaroid,  which was selected at numerous Spanish and International festivals and won a variety of awards including third place at the prestigious television competition “Version Española”. Three Days with the Family is her first feature film.