Beautiful Youth
(Hermosa Juventud)
Jaime Rosales / Spain / 2014 / 102 min
Spanish with English subtitles
With Ingrid García-Jonsson, Carlos Rodríguez
Carlos (Rodríguez) and Natalia (García-Jonsson) are a young Spanish couple who have been together for over two years. They drift along with ambition-less lethargy, picking up odd jobs and trying to keep each other happy, but circumstances change when Natalia becomes pregnant.
The naturalistic film charts the first few years of their little girl’s life and is, for the most part, a straightforward look at the shifting dynamic between Carlos and Natalia. Art house auteur Jaime Rosales presents this slice-of-life drama with compassion and honesty, ultimately presenting a grueling study of the unemployment crisis endemic to the youth in Spain. As the years pass, Natalia is confronted with the realities of her options, and must contend with the difficulties of finally growing up.