The Grandmother (2021) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

The film takes place in two main locations: Paris, where Susana works as a fashion model, and Madrid, specifically in an apartment near El Retiro park on Calle de Alfonso XII. The Madrid apartment serves as the supernatural core of the story, while Paris represents the glamorous, superficial life Susana leaves behind.

• paris
• madrid
• setting
• el retiro
• apartment

The apartment near El Retiro becomes a liminal space where Pilar's supernatural powers manifest. It is filled with memories, rituals, and ancient knowledge that resurface as Susana uncovers her grandmother's witchcraft abilities. The apartment functions as both a home and a vessel for the family's hidden magical lineage.

• madrid apartment
• el Retiro
• pilar
• witchcraft
• supernatural

Paris represents the glamorous, outward-facing facade of Susana's life in the fashion industry, while Madrid exposes the darker, supernatural history of her family. The shift from Paris to Madrid forces Susana from a world of superficial beauty into one of ancient magic and buried secrets.

• paris
• madrid
• fashion
• supernatural
• contrast

The witchcraft theme centers on Pilar's supernatural powers that drive the central conflict. The film explores ritual knowledge, objects moving on their own, and the dangerous consequences of tampering with forbidden magic. The narrative builds tension around the cost of wielding ancient, ancestral abilities.

• witchcraft
• pilar
• magic
• ritual
• supernatural powers

The family secrets theme revolves around Susana being drawn back into a hidden lineage she knew nothing about. The past leaks into the present through diaries, memories, and a ritual that binds Eva, Julita, and Pilar. The discovery of these secrets intensifies both the drama and the danger in the household.

• family secrets
• lineage
• past
• ritual
• diary memories

The film explores how the boundary between self and other dissolves as Pilar's soul inhabits Susana. Questions of who belongs in which life become central as the possession unfolds. The ending suggests identity can become fluid when ancestral power intervenes, raising questions about autonomy and selfhood.

• identity
• possession
• pilar
• susana
• soul transfer
• autonomy

Susana is a Paris-based fashion model who returns to Madrid to care for her grandmother Pilar. She is plagued by unsettling nightmares and a growing sense of danger as she uncovers family secrets, eventually facing a crisis of autonomy when Pilar's supernatural influence intensifies.

• susana
• model
• paris
• granddaughter
• caretaker

Pilar is the elderly grandmother with supernatural powers who manipulates the apartment and ultimately attempts to transfer her soul to Susana. She embodies both care and danger as the matriarch of a hidden witchcraft lineage, haunting the house with ancient magical abilities.

• pilar
• grandmother
• witch
• matriarch
• supernatural

Pilar is Susana's grandmother, and their relationship forms the emotional core of the film. While Pilar appears to need care, she actually holds supernatural power over Susana. The relationship shifts from familial obligation to a terrifying power dynamic as Pilar's true intentions to possess Susana's body emerge.

• pilar
• susana
• grandmother
• granddaughter
• relationship

Eva is a young woman who claims to be Pilar's friend's niece and appears to Susana, connecting to a childhood past involving a strange ritual. She is linked to the childhood version of herself who participated in a hair-cutting moment that binds their fates to Pilar's witchcraft.

• eva
• childhood ritual
• niece
• hair cutting
• fate

Adela is a domestic worker hired by Susana who becomes a victim of Pilar's supernatural powers. Her fate illustrates the danger present in the household and the cost of keeping the family's witchcraft secrets, as she falls prey to the malevolent forces Pilar wields.

• adela
• domestic worker
• victim
• danger
• supernatural