‘Saturn’ review’: Transilvania non-fiction winner paints complex portrait of fractured Spanish family

Dir/scr: Daniel Tornero. Spain. 2024. 96mins

A broken family struggles to heal in Saturn, an intense, deeply personal feature debut from Spanish director Daniel Tornero. The fallout from shattering revelations about Tornero’s grandfather prompts the filmmaker to create this portrait of complex intergenerational trauma. The question of what it means to be a good father is a constant throughout. Winning the What’s Up, Doc? prize at Transilvania marks another step on a substantial festival journey for an assured and enthralling documentary.

Tornero is sensitive to the issues tearing at the fabric of his family

In 2018, Tornero’s grandfather was arrested for child abuse and attempted kidnap. He was given a 12-year prison sentence and, when the film begins, is awaiting the result of his appeal. Tornero’s grandfather is still alive, but there is an air of bereavement that hangs over the film. The family gather at the country home of Tornero’s grandmother (no-one is called by name on screen) and it feels as if they are still coming to terms with the loss of someone who was once held dear and is now considered a monster. Papers burn on an open fire, suggestive of so much that has turned to ashes.

The family home has the appearance of somewhere abandoned and haunted by memories of better times. Cinematographer Carlos Guijarro grounds the film in bleak rural landscapes and gloomy interiors. The mood is sombre as Tornero lets the camera rest on individuals, especially his own father. A series of conversations allow relatives to explore their feelings towards their fallen idol. Do they hate him or could they still find it in their hearts to love him? Tornero’s grandmother has unequivocal feelings of contempt. His father is much more conflicted, fearful that he may be cut from the same cloth, in the way his financial generosity to his children was a substitute for his lack of emotional availability or love.

The camera often remains fixed on an anguished individual as they are drawn into lengthy conversations. The gaze is unflinching and almost merciless as it pins them down. There are so many unanswered questions for all of the family around guilt, awareness, self reproach and regrets. At one point, they belatedly consider their responsibility to the victims.

While the first third of the film is about a man who is discussed but never seen, later Tornero gives his grandfather his moment in front of the camera. The result is chilling and utterly compelling, as we encounter an 80-year-old man who shows no remorse for what he has done and tries to shape an outrageous narrative in which he is the victim. He remains convinced that he will never be sent to jail. Tornero’s decision just to let him talk provides a remarkable self-portrait of bluster, defiance and manipulation.

Saturn takes its title from the Goya painting ’Saturn Devouring His Son’, in which the Roman god eats the children that might one day overthrow him. The film confronts the connections between the generations in both the relationship between Tornero’s father and grandfather, and between Tornero’s younger brother Jesus and their father. There is a fear of history repeating. Tornero’s father is burdened by the fear he has failed his children, and that the influence of his disgraced father has been inescapable.

Tornero is sensitive to the issues tearing at the fabric of his family, carefully capturing the way in which awareness grows and attitudes change as they come to terms with what happened. The hunger for understanding and the possibility of change bring hope in even the darkest circumstances.