Basque Director's "Sundays" Explores Family Tensions and Spiritual Awakening

In September 2025, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa's film "Sundays" has been generating significant buzz at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The family drama, which follows a liberal Basque family's reaction to their daughter Ainara's announcement that she is considering becoming a cloistered nun, has been praised by critics as a powerful exploration of the fragility of tolerance and the search for meaning within a family.

The film centers around the Basque family, led by father Iñaki, whose restaurant business is struggling, and mother Maite, who tries to talk Ainara out of her decision. Ainara, the eldest daughter, begins the film by begging her grandmother Maite to persuade Iñaki to let her go on a retreat organized by the local Betinas convent nuns. As the family grapples with Ainara's spiritual awakening, the underlying tensions within the household, including financial troubles and a lack of communication, come to the surface.

One of the key themes of "Sundays" is the fragility of tolerance, as the family's apparent acceptance of Ainara's decision is tested. The film suggests that the family's tolerance is often a "fictitious" one, adopted to avoid conflicts, and that a genuine, intimate understanding of each other's perspectives is often lacking. The distance between Ainara and her father Iñaki is particularly poignant, as she finds it easier to talk to God than to her own family.