Sundays is a 2025 Spanish-French drama thriller film directed by Alauda Ruiz de Asua from a screenplay by Alauda Ruiz de Asua. The film premiered in Spain on October 17, 2025.
„Sundays“" is a production by director and screenwriter Alauda Ruiz de Asua, who, after the success of "„The Five Little Wolves“" once again focuses on family, personal choices, and complex human relationships. The film explores a topic that is rare in contemporary cinema — a young man's religious calling — but does so not as a religious story, but as an intimate family drama about love, freedom, and the impossibility of living life for others.
The main character is seventeen-year-old Ainara, who lives in Bilbao with her father and younger sisters. While her family is trying to cope with their daily problems, the young girl makes a decision that shocks her loved ones - she wants to become a nun in a closed monastery. The news causes tension in the entire family. Her father accepts the choice more calmly, although he himself is absorbed in his personal worries and financial problems. The strongest reaction is from her aunt Mayte - an independent woman with atheistic views, who refuses to believe that such a decision could be a true desire of a young girl. Gradually, the argument about faith turns into a much deeper conflict about freedom, control and the right to determine one's own life. The film does not look for easy answers and does not take a definitive side. Instead, it observes how a decision shakes the bonds between close people and forces them to confront their own fears, beliefs and disappointments.
Alauda Ruiz de Asua builds the story with her characteristic delicacy and attention to human details. The direction avoids large dramatic outbursts and prefers quiet conversations, glances and the tension that gradually builds between the characters. The film is shot realistically and almost documentary-like, which makes the conflicts even more convincing. Instead of turning the topic of religion into an ideological dispute, the director focuses on the emotional side of the story and on the question of how much we can accept a person's choice when we do not understand it.
Blanca Soroa makes an impressive debut as Ainara. She builds a character who seems both fragile and extremely determined. Much of her emotions are conveyed through silence, looks, and inner tension.
Patricia Lopez Arnais is magnificent as Maite, the aunt who desperately tries to stop her niece from making a decision she believes is a mistake. She gives the character strength, pain, and humanity at the same time.
Miguel Garces plays the father Iñaki as a man trying to keep calm amidst the family storm, even though he himself is lost in his own problems.
Juan Minujin complements the dramatic line with a more mature and rational view of the conflict.
„Sundays“" is a quiet but very moving film about faith, family and the right to personal choice. This is not a story about religion as an institution, but about the way people react when someone close to them chooses a path they cannot understand. With delicate direction, strong acting and emotional honesty, the film ranks among the strongest European dramas of the year. Instead of providing answers, it asks difficult questions about love, freedom and the limits of family affection.
