This sophisticated melodrama about life, death, romance and motherhood from Julio Medem (Sex and Lucia) stars Penélope Cruz as a woman whose grace and enormous capacity for love guide her through tragedies and miracles.

Already heartbroken over her husband’s decision to spent the summer with his young lover, Magda (Cruz) is told she has breast cancer and must undertake both painful radiation treatments and a mastectomy. The very day she learns of her diagnosis, she attends her son’s football game, where she meets Arturo (Luis Tosa), a scout for Real Madrid. Within minutes of them meeting, Arturo receives a call with terrible news: his wife and daughter have been in a grave accident. These twin catastrophes give birth to a very special bond between the pair – one that will endure as the courses of their lives take further twists and turns.

Beautiful to watch and elegantly designed, Ma ma is as much a testament to survival as it is an ode to the complexity of human relations and emotions – this is filmmaking with a wide, open heart.

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