Alone

"Solas" (1999) is a Spanish drama you can watch online on iFILM — the debut feature from director Benito Zambrano, shot in Seville with María Galiana and Ana Fernández. Rosa comes from her village to the city: her alcoholic husband is in hospital, and she'll be staying at her daughter's flat.

María (Ana Fernández) is pregnant, alone, cleaning other people's offices to survive, and drinking more than she should. She and her mother circle each other without quite connecting. The one relationship that gives the film its warmth belongs to Rosa and a quiet widower who lives upstairs — unexpected, and impossible to dismiss.

Zambrano made this on a slim budget without any name actors, and it still won seven Goya Awards, including Best Film and Best Director. Galiana's performance — still, watchful, impossible to look away from — is the reason. Stream "Solas" online on iFILM.