A Brazilian director’s Berlin-premiering film depicts a wealthy Spanish family’s trauma and decay after their mother’s death.

Brazilian director Karim Ainouz’s film “Rosebush Pruning,” premiering at the Berlin Film Festival, portrays a dysfunctional, wealthy family in Spain grappling with trauma, patriarchy, and inherited privilege. The story follows four siblings and their blind father after their mother’s death, exploring emotional detachment and societal decay through a style described as “operatic absurdity.” The film, inspired by Marco Bellocchio’s 1965 work, critiques extreme wealth and its potential to foster authoritarian tendencies. Ainouz, known for festival films, expressed a desire to direct a James Bond movie.