''Saturn Return'' () is a 2024 musical drama film directed by

Isaki Lacuesta Isaki Lacuesta (born 28 November 1975) is a Spanish film director from Catalonia. His work includes documentary film, narrative film and video art. Lacuesta was born into a family of Basque origin. He studied audiovisual communication at the Auto ...

and starring Daniel Ibáñez, Stéphanie Magnin, and Cristalino. Set in the late 1990s against the backdrop of

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

's musical scene, the plot fictionalizes the creative process behind

Los Planetas Los Planetas (''The Planets'') is a Spanish indie rock group from the city of Granada which started out in the mid 1990s and continue now through the 2020s. The group's first hit was "Qué puedo hacer" (''What can I do?'') from their album "Supe ...

' third album. The film premiered on 5 March 2024, in competition at the

27th Málaga Film Festival The 27th Málaga Film Festival ran in Málaga, Spain from 1 to 10 March 2024. Background In October 2023, festival director Juan Antonio Vigar stated that the organization was seeking to thin the non-competitive slate of the festival's officia ...

, where it won the

Golden Biznaga Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall *Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...

, ahead of its Spanish theatrical release on 24 May 2024 by

BTeam Pictures BTeam Pictures is a Spanish film distribution company. The company is based in Madrid. It is headed by Alex Lafuente, Ania Jones and Lara Pérez Camiña. It also has a film production division. History The company was founded in Barcelona in 201 ...

. It was selected as the Spanish submission for the Best International Feature Film at the

97th Academy Awards The 97th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly r ...

Plot

. 20th century. A man and a woman walk away from a

ski slope Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

. The man ( the singer) recriminates the woman (May) about her decision to leave he band(

). The woman recalls that was not the way things happened, and proceeds to narrate her version, the version of a

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

who performed live with her back to the audience and the member who left the musical act. According to her, at 27 years old, when the other members wanted to release an album, the woman simply wanted to depart. The band's guitarist plays some guitar chords to the singer. The films depicts the singer and the guitarist awkwardly performing at a television show along with pre-recorded music, the guitarist's struggles with substance abuse, the singer and the guitarist asking a reluctant record company in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

to record their third album in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, the singer and the guitarist search for a drummer and a bassist, managing to recruit the former, who divagates about what makes Granada special about its musical scene. The plot depicts the guitarist's hallucinations and fantasies after a gig, a casual meeting of the guitarist with May, who has started a university degree, and a guitarist's mishap that lands him in hospital, with his hands bandaged. While having a full lineup, the band struggles to meet their creative deadlines with the label, and the guitarist tells the singer that May did not leave because of the accident stuff. The singer meets with a defiant May at the university and they later talk and smoke on a terrace. After attending the same

procession A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...

, the drummer and the guitarist meet and question's about the singer's NYC plans. The guitarist experiences hallucinations with NYC. The guitarist proposes to the singer and the drummer to seclude themselves to meet their creative deadlines with the album. The group showcases their advances to the music label executives. The singer is pushed to continue working on a hit song and suggested to leave the guitarist behind should they travel to NYC to record the album. The singer phones May to talk about the band's advances and fails to convince her into rejoining the band. The singer finally travels to NYC without the guitarist, who was taken to Madrid by Santa to undergo some rehab. The memory of the guitarist haunts the singer, who phones the guitarist and proposes him to rejoin the band in NYC. The guitarist and the singer meet again there and the band records the third album, '. May receives a

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

copy of the album.

Cast

Production

''Saturn Return'' was originally set to be directed by

Jonás Trueba Jonás Trueba (born 1981) is a Spanish filmmaker. Biography Born in Madrid in 1981, Jonás Groucho Rodríguez Huete is the son of Fernando Trueba and Cristina Huete. Prior to his directorial debut in a feature film with ''Every Song Is About Me ...

, but Trueba eventually left the project for undisclosed reasons and

took over, while Fernando Navarro remained in writing duties. The film is Spanish-French co-production by La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films, Capricci Films, Bteam Prods., Sideral Cinema, Los Ilusos Films, and Toxicosmos AIE production. In April 2023, days before the start of production, Lacuesta's and

Isa Campo Isa Campo (born 1975) is a Spanish screenwriter who has also directed and produced. She is a longtime collaborator of Isaki Lacuesta. Biography Campo was born in Oviedo in 1975. She moved to Girona, Catalonia at a young age, in the wake of her ...

's daughter Luna became ill, and so Lacuesta directed the film remotely from the hospital, with the on-site collaboration of assistant director Pol Rodríguez. The film is dedicated to Luna, who died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

before the film's premiere. Shooting locations in

included the Campo del Príncipe. The film was additionally shot in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Release

Film distribution was handled by

in Spain and Capricci Films in France. Latido Films acquired international sales rights. For its world premiere, the film was presented at the

on 5 March 2024. It was also selected for screenings at the 14th , the 25th

Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, ) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. History The festival had its first edition in April 1999 and i ...

(BAFICI), the 39th Guadalajara International Film Festival (Ibero-American Fiction Feature Film selection), and the Seattle Film Festival. It was released theatrically in Spain on 24 May 2024. Outsider Pictures acquired North-American rights to the film.

Reception

Critical response

Jonathan Holland of ''

ScreenDaily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned ''Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involve ...

'' deemed the film to be something both "very watchable and artistically satisfying". Andrea G. Bermejo of ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost po ...

'' rated the film 5 out of 5 stars and praised the work of the cast, both the musicians who had never acted before and the actors who never had had a Granadan accent. Raúl Julián of ''

Mondo Sonoro ''Mondo Sonoro'', sometimes shortened to ''la Mondo'', is a Spanish magazine established in 1994 which focuses on current alternative music, alternative, popular music, popular and indie music, as well as national emerging bands. Co-founded by Serg ...

'' gave the film a 8 out of 10 score, writing about "100 minutes of focus and approach far removed from conventionalisms and well maintained by the filmmakers, as well as supported by actors in a state of grace". Eulàlia Iglesias of ''

Ara Ara may refer to: Biology * ''Ara'' (bird), a genus of parrots * Ara (fish) (''Niphon spinosus''), a species of fish * L-arabinose operon, also known as ara Places * Ara (mountain), a mountain in Armenia * Ara, Armenia, a village in Armenia ...

'' rated the film 4½ out of 5 stars, pointing out that a number of features in the film "move the proposal away from the prosaic routines of musical biopics with an exhaustive, mimetic and Wikipedist vocation". Sergi Sánchez of '' La Razón'' rated the film 5 out of 5 stars, considering it one of "the most exciting films about friendship and artistic creation that recent Spanish cinema has produced". Marta Medina of ''

El Confidencial ''El Confidencial'' is a Spanish-language general-information digital newspaper located in Spain, specializing in economic, financial and political news. It was established as an online newspaper in 2001. Its target readership is professional ...

'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, considering it "one of the most suggestive films of the year". Carlos Aguilar of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' found the film to be one of the "most honest and reinvigorating music biopics in years". In September 2024, the

Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain The Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain () is a professional organisation dedicated to the promotion and development of Cinema of Spain, Spanish cinema. Founded in 1986, it is responsible for the annual Goya Awards, Spain's princ ...

selected ''Saturn Return'' for a shortlist of 3 films to determine their final submission for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards, eventually becoming Spain's submission to the aforementioned award.

Listicles

The film appeared on a number of critics' lists of top Spanish films of 2024:

Accolades

, - , rowspan = "4" , , , rowspan = "3" ,

, , colspan = "2" , Golden Biznaga for Best Spanish Film , , , , rowspan = "3" , , - , Best Director , , Isaki Lacuesta, Pol Rodríguez , , , - , Best Editing , , Javi Frutos , , , - ,

30th Forqué Awards The 30th Forqué Awards, organised by , were presented on 14 December 2024 at the IFEMA Palacio Municipal in Madrid. The ceremony was broadcast on La 2 and RTVE Play. Background In October 2024, filmmaker José Luis Garci was announced as the ...

, , colspan = "2" ,

Best Film The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

, , , , , - , rowspan = "32" , , , rowspan = "9" , 17th Gaudí Awards , , colspan = "2" , Best Non-Catalan Language Film , , , , rowspan = "9" , , - , Best Director , , Isaki Lacuesta, Pol Rodríguez , , , - , Best Original Screenplay , , Isaki Lacuesta, Fernando Navarro , , , - , Best Production Supervision , , Carlos Amoedo , , , - , Best Cinematography , , Takuro Takeuchi , , , - , Best Costume Design , , Lourdes Fuentes , , , - , Best Makeup and Hairstyles , , Yolanda Piña, Inés Díaz , , , - , Best Sound , , Diana Sagrista, Alejandro Castillo, Eva Valiño, Antonin Dalmasso , , , - , Best Visual Effects , , María Magnet, Marion Delgado, Iñaki Gil "Ketxu", Sebastien Launay , , , - , rowspan = "9" ,

4th Carmen Awards The 4th Carmen Awards ceremony, presented by the Andalusian Film Academy, took place on 1 February 2025 at the Gran Teatro in Córdoba. In January 2025, Macarena Gómez and Antonio Pagudo were announced as the gala hosts. Producer Antonio Pére ...

, , colspan = "2" , Best Film, , , , rowspan = "9" , , - , Best Original Screenplay , , Fernando Navarro , , , - , Best New Actor , , Cristalino , , , - , Best Costume Design , , Lourdes Fuentes , , , - , Best Editing , , Javier Frutos , , , - , Best Sound , , Diana Sagrista , , , - , Best Art Direction , , Pepe Domínguez, Gigia Pellegrini , , , - , Best Makeup and Hairstyles , , Yolanda Piña , , , - , Best Special Effects , , María Magnet, Marian Delgado , , , - , rowspan = "11" ,

39th Goya Awards The 39th Goya Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, took place at the in Granada, Andalusia, on 8 February 2025. The gala was broadcast on La 1 (Spanish TV channel), La 1 and RTVE Play. Backgr ...

, , colspan = "2" ,

, , , , rowspan = "11" , , - ,

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

, , Isaki Lacuesta, Pol Rodríguez , , , - , rowspan = "2" , Best New Actor , , Cristalino , , , - , Daniel Ibáñez, , , - ,

Best Cinematography The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best ...

, , Takuro Takeuchi , , , - , Best Editing , , Javi Frutos , , , - ,

Best Original Song The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best ...

, , "Love Is the Worst" by Alondra Bentley, Isaki Lacuesta, , , - ,

Best Art Direction The Academy Award for Best Production Design recognizes achievement for art direction in film. The category's original name was Best Art Direction, but was changed to its current name in 2012 for the 85th Academy Awards. This change resulted fro ...

, , Pepe Domínguez del Olmo, , , - , Best Costume Design , , Lourdes Fuentes , , , - ,

Best Sound The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

, , Diana Sagrista, Eva Valiño, Alejandro Castillo, Antonin Dalmasso , , , - , Best Production Supervision , , Carlos Amoedo , , , - , rowspan = "2" , 33rd Actors and Actresses Union Awards , , Best Film Actor in a Leading Role , , Daniel Ibáñez , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best New Actor , , Cristalino , , , - ,

12th Platino Awards The 12th Platino Awards, presented by the Entidad de Gestión de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales (EGEDA) and the Federación Iberoamericana de Productores Cinematográficos y Audiovisuales (FIPCA), took place on April 27, 2025, at IFEMA ...

, ,

, , Diana Sagrista, Alejandro Castillo, Eva Valiño, Antonin Dalmasso , , , ,

References

External links

* {{authority control 2020s Spanish-language films 2020s Spanish films 2020s French films 2020s musical drama films 2024 drama films 2024 films Spanish musical drama films French musical drama films Films set in Granada Films set in 1998 Films shot in the province of Granada La Terraza Films films Ikiru Films films Áralan Films films Spanish rock music films French rock music films Films shot in the province of Seville Films shot in Madrid Films shot in New York City 2024 musical films