Valeria is 17 and expecting a child with her boyfriend who is not much older,
living in Puerto Vallarta with her half-sister, Clara. Valeria does not want
her long-absent mother, April, to find out about the pregnancy, but due to
the economic strain and the overwhelming responsibility of having a baby
in the house Clara decides to call their mother. April arrives and strives to
support her daughter and help her with the child. But their family life is far
from ideal and Abril begins to be convinced that Valeria simply is not a good
mother. She opts for a drastic solution and we soon understand why Valeria
wanted her to stay away.
Mexican producer, screenwriter and director Michel Franco has again made
a strong drama teeming with tense relations and characters that all of a
sudden helplessly fall through to the bottom of their existence. A brilliantly
constructed character drama is an incisive probe into what people under
strain are capable of.