After Elena

When Elena dies, she leaves behind more than a grieving family. She leaves a void no one knows how to fill. Widower Roberto (Alfredo Castro, Chile’s towering figure of indie cinema) is obsessed with order and routine, and finds himself sharing his home once again with his three adult children, each carrying their own failures, secrets, and ways of coping. The siblings come to realize that their true inheritance is not material wealth — although a couple of them could certainly use some of that — but the silences, guilt, and unspoken affection that shaped their lives.

Director Shawn Garry deploys a gentle, non-judgmental take on the dynamics of a dysfunctional family on the verge of dissolution, balancing light with darkness in every aspect of the film. The narrative doesn’t wallow in heaviness or facile characterizations. Instead, it finds emotional richness in the smallest gestures and seemingly ordinary interactions, allowing each family member the space to reveal unexpected layers of vulnerability. 

Amid domestic disputes, absurd situations, and unexpected moments of tenderness, the family begins to unpack the story they have told themselves for decades. With humour, melancholy, and an openness to contradiction, After Elena explores grief, family bonds, and the possibility of reinventing ourselves when the person who once held our world together is gone.

DIANA CADAVID