Francesca & Love
Alba Sotorra Clua / / 2022
A life-affirming and colourful documentary cousin to an Almódovar film about a middle-aged woman's search for love – and about learning to navigate a dating app in your second youth.
Catalan Francesca Llopis is a visual artist. She draws, paints, sews, folds, films, photographs. And she dates. One night at a wine-fuelled dinner, the vivacious – and single – grey-haired woman declares she longs to find a partner. Her friends protest, telling her she will find no better company than them. Still, she ends up downloading a dating app on her phone and starts setting up dates. Her beloved daughter has just flown the nest to explore the world and play music, so Francesca is left alone to deal with the new emptiness rumbling in her heart. She fills the gap with splashes of bright red paint as she calls her daughter and listens to her heavenly voice, which provides the beautiful soundtrack in a gloriously life-affirming tale about the art of staying young at heart.