31/07/2023 - The Spanish director is currently in post-production of the comedy starring Spanish actors Salva Reina and Carmina Barrios alongside Mexican actresses Patricia Bernal and Paulina Goto

Carmina Barrios and Patricia Bernal in Tu madre o la mía (© Marina Caputo)

Paco and Regina are getting married, but they are unaware that this will trigger a fight between their mothers to see who will decide every last detail of the wedding: Carmen, the groom's mother, is an expert in emotional blackmail, while Catalina, the bride's mother, is a master at using her contacts to pressure and extort people until her wishes are fulfilled. The struggle between the two causes a battle of epic proportions, where there will be nothing left. This is the plot –written by María Ángela Obón Tolosa, Sabina Méndez and Marco Antonio Lagarde Bedolla– of Tu madre o la mía, a recent film by Chus Gutiérrez (Little Red Riding Wolf [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), filmed over four weeks last May and June, now in post-production.

The stars of this mother-in-law fight are the Spanish Carmina Barrios (last seen in Rainbow [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and the Mexican Patricia Bernal (recently seen in New Order [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), together with the future bride and groom played by the Canarian Salva Reina (Tregua(s) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mario Hernández
film profile]) and the Mexican actress and composer Paulina Goto.

"It is an extreme comedy that pushes its characters to the limit to show us a distorted world of the love of two mothers and two women who are opposites, but with a common goal: to control their son and daughter", says Chus Gutiérrez. "These two very different ladies give us the opportunity to talk about all of us, about our inability to trust seemingly different people and to laugh at our prejudices. It will be a vibrant film, with bright colours and excesses, with all the ingredients to make it a wonderful film," the filmmaker explains.

"The idea for this feature film came to me at a surreal moment during the pandemic, while I was having dinner at a well-known restaurant on the beach in Malaga. A bride and groom were under a beam of lights celebrating their wedding alone," says Álvaro Ariza, the film's producer from Cádiz. "To my surprise at not seeing any guests, the waiter explained to me that due to health restrictions they could only accommodate 50% capacity, so the bride and groom chose to do it themselves, so as not to have to choose between the two families and avoid a conflict between the mothers-in-law. At the time I thought it was a story that deserved a comedy. And who better than Chus to direct it”, he concludes.

Tu madre o la mía is produced by Esto también pasará and Guerra de suegras A.I.E. in co-production with Bowfinger International Pictures and BTF Media, and in association with SDB Films, AF Films and Mogambo. Executive produced by María Luisa Gutiérrez, with the participation of Prime Video and supported by the ICAA. It will be distributed in Spanish cinemas by A Contracorriente Films.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)