Mexican maestro Michel Franco (After Lucia) returns to the Festival with this noirish thriller about maternal instincts in extremis.

Youthful yoga instructor April (Julieta’s Emma Suárez) reunites with her long-estranged—and very pregnant—17-year-old daughter Valeria. Charismatic, vigorous and resourceful, April seems an exceptional adjunct, but this perfect little family starts to splinter anew once Valeria’s baby enters the world and April determines to show that grandmother knows best—at any cost.

Following his characters from the idyll of Puerto Vallarta to the maze of Mexico City, Franco’s cool, unwavering gaze draws us helplessly in, while Suárez brilliantly provokes our sympathies before propelling us along a chilling trajectory right out of Greek tragedy.