You’ve probably read our review, or possibly our interviews with both writer/director Nicolas Pesce and lead actress Kika Magalhaes, but that’s not quite the same as being able to see the film for yourself. And oh, what a stunning, bleak film it is. Just ahead of tomorrow’s release, we have the opening sequence, below, to whet your appetite. The ominous tone and visual aesthetic is set immediately, so you’ll have a good idea of what to expect.

Written and directed by Nicolas Pesce, the film stars Kika Magalhaes, Will Brill, Flora Diaz, Paul Nazak, Clara Wong, Diana Agostini, and Olivia Bond.

The Eyes of My Mother will be released in theaters and VOD on December 2, 2016.

Plot Synopsis
In their secluded farmhouse, a mother, formerly a surgeon in Portugal, teaches her daughter, Francisca, to understand anatomy and be unfazed by death. One afternoon, a mysterious visitor shatters the idyll of Francisca’s family life, deeply traumatizing the young girl, but also awakening unique curiosities. Though she clings to her increasingly reticent father, Francisca’s loneliness and scarred nature converge years later when her longing to connect with the world around her takes on a dark form. Shot in crisp black and white, the haunting visual compositions evoke its protagonist’s isolation and illuminate her deeply unbalanced worldview. Genre-inflected, but so strikingly unique as to defy categorization, writer/director Nicolas Pesce’s feature debut allows only an elliptical presence in Francisca’s world, guiding our imaginations to follow her into peculiar, secret places.

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