MIFF 2025 Film Review - Deaf
Images courtesy of Common State.
What good am I here?
Eva Libertad’s feature debut Deaf (2025), expanded from her 2021 short film of the same name, is a deeply intimate exploration of Deafness and motherhood within a hearing-centred world. By drawing upon lead actress Miriam Garlo’s own reflections on navigating motherhood and Deafness, the film naturally avoids tired cliches and stereotyping allowing it to truly centre Deaf people and their stories.
Set against the rugged Spanish countryside, Ángela (Miriam Garlo), a gifted potter, prepares to welcome her first child with her hearing partner Héctor (Álvaro Cervantes). What begins as a joyful announcement slowly starts to unravel as they begin to speculate whether or not their daughter will be hearing and the way her eventual status will inevitably change their relationship. This quiet tension ebbs and flows throughout the narrative, shaping every glance and unspoken hesitation once it’s revealed that their daughter can hear.
Libertad crafts one of the most visceral birth scenes I have ever seen. Let’s be honest, giving birth is not an easy thing to begin with, but Libertad does not pull cheap shots by focusing on blood and pain. The scene is devastating in its realism, as Ángela is spoken over, dismissed, her autonomy well and truly eroded by well-meaning but ultimately ignorant healthcare workers. Even Héctor’s attempts to advocate for her collapse, leaving Ángela completely isolated in what should have been her most empowering moment. It’s a harrowing reminder of the barriers minorities face in spaces that claim neutrality and support.
Much of the film’s strength lies in its performances. Garlo delivers a deeply internalised portrayal of Ángela, brimming with simmering frustration and brought to life with the understated physicality of her performance. We watch as she’s silently pushed out, as her boisterous hearing family clamours around, and bonds with, the daughter Ángela herself is unable to communicate with. For most of its runtime, hearing viewers may feel they “understand” Ángela, that they can relate to her frustrations with her family, and by extension the entire world, around her - until Libertad strips away that safety net in her final act through her creative use of the film’s soundscape. It is only then that we grasp how much we’ve been centred by a hearing lens rather than experiencing her reality. The inversion is utterly brilliant, especially in a debut feature-length film, and showcases not only Libertad’s skill but sets her up as a director to watch out for in the coming years. It should really come as no surprise that the film went on to win the Panorama Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival.
So if you’re into gorgeous Spanish cinema, understated dramas, the frustration of motherhood, and critiquing the inherent silent ableism of the hearing world, then Deaf is the film for you.
4 out of 5 stars.
Deaf screened as part of the 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival. For tickets and more info, click here.