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Brutally blunt in its depiction of domestic violence. I almost wish I hadn’t seen this film, it’s that almost completely unbearable… I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Oh god. I have never seen a film that depicts the impact of domestic violence with such brutal bluntness as this one. Working from a novel by Lolita Bosch (which does not appear to be available in English), Spanish filmmaker Jordi Cadena has crafted a film that captures the simmering terror of a family living in fear, a cinematic bruise that spouts livid and then turns even uglier. Teen Manel (Igor Szpakowski) and his mother (Roser Camí) cower in their separate bedrooms in the morning, listening as Father (Ramon Madaula) goes about his routine before leaving for the day. The little apartment seems to sigh with relief once he’s gone…...

★★☆☆☆ Whilst Jordi Cadena's The Fear (2013) boasts a sensational performance from young talent Igor Szpakowski and a palpable sense of dread, this oppressive meditation on Spain's 'pact of forgetting' and Basque separatism ultimately proves an insensitive and tactless exploration of domestic violence. Shot almost entirely from the vantage point of teenager Manel (Szpakowski), we observe the effects of a brutal patriarch over a frail and helpless family. Cadena uses an abundance of extreme close-ups to express this suffocating malevolence, only withdrawing when Manel and his kid sister are safe at school.

Drawing parallels with 1973's The Spirit of the Beehive, The Fear offers up a plethora of lazy metaphors that mirror the allegorical films produced in Franco's Spain - with the father merely an emblematic representation of the country's past. This monstrosity could have been used to represent the paternal stronghold on Western society, where authority is asserted through fear and masculine dominance,...