Janine works in a bank giving credits to clients to buy houses and receives the offer of a promotion to work in a future branch in China for which she takes Mandarin classes. One night he travels from work to his home on the subway. There is attacked by two young delinquents a very old woman and Janine tries to avoid it. The young follow her and it is then that they steal and attack her sexually. After recovering from the blows and the anguish he gets up and sees his attackers raping a helpless young girl. Janine, instead of taking some initiative to stop them, flees home. From that situation her life is disrupted and her job promotion to China, her consolidated partner and her present as an independent woman become secondary and worthless issues. Janine lives in anguish and tormented by the memory of that traumatic situation. To try to recompose himself, he travels to the countryside to see his father who is a widower and is trying to rebuild his life after the death of his wife.
Acting
Laia Marull's face does what scripts fear to write.
Direction
Aguilar refuses the redemption arc you're begging for.
Director
Roser Aguilar
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Aguilar based Janine's paralysis on real bystander psychology studies—freezing is more common than heroism, yet cinema rarely depicts it without redemption.
The Mandarin classes signal Catalonia's economic aspirations toward China in 2010s—Janine's aborted mobility mirrors Spain's stalled post-crisis dreams.
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