Writer/Director Nicolas Pesce’s feature debut is a striking visual spectacle, but it’s also a very unnerving character study (review), and the second trailer makes that abundantly clear. In it, a young Francisca displays an odd, creepy understanding of what friendship means. Seriously, Francisca may give Norman Bates a run for his money in terms of unhinged serial killers that still elicit sympathy. The trailer, below, perfectly captures that unsettling tone.

The film stars Kika Magalhães, Will Brill, Flora Diaz, Paul Nazak, Clara Wong, Diana Agostini, and Olivia Bond.

The Eyes of My Mother will open in theaters and on 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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