Teresa, a single mother spends a day at the beach with her six-year-old son, Benji and her sister Marga, who is back in Portugal for a summer vacation. The day becomes very stressful with her sister’s constant speech about her son’s achievements and her criticisms towards Benji.
In A Mother Goes to the Beach there is a shot that immediately puts us inside the film. From above, we see a woman bathing alone, in need of rest and invigoration. This image, which never leaves our minds, of a woman (Cláudia Jardim) in a red swimsuit with a tired head, trying to float, is the universal portrait of many single mothers and fathers who don’t feel like they’re on holiday, even when all the indicators seem to be there. Education indoors is heard from outside, is confronted by the outside, is discussed outside. This is what this woman’s sister does, always emphasising her son’s successes, as opposed to her sister’s son. The beach as a space of liberation is here a space of constraint and fear. That’s why we believe that the end of the film will be that image from the beginning that acts as a kind of liberation. We are Teresa! – Miguel Valverde
