Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 2020 film 20,000 Species of Bees offers a tender look at an important coming-of-age journey. Eight-year-old Lucía, born Aitor, begins to understand her true self better over a summer in the countryside with her family.
Still finding her way, Lucía discovers empathy and wisdom from her aunt Lourdes, a beekeeper who takes the time to listen without judgment. Lucía’s mother Ane and grandmother Lita struggle more with this change, reflecting societal pressures that often challenge those exploring their gender identity.
Through it all, Solaguren presents Lucía’s experience with compassion. We see a child learning what really matters as those around her also open their hearts to understanding. This summer will impact all their lives in touching, sometimes surprising ways.
Summer Discovery
Young Coco arrives with her family in a rural Basque village, hoping the change of scenery will allow some respite from daily challenges. But surrounded by extended family, it seems everyone has strong views on how an eight-year-old should behave. While Coco’s mother Ane encourages exploring one’s interests freely, grandmother Lita clings to tradition.
Slowly coming to understand aspects of herself that others struggle to see, Coco finds solace in the company of Aunt Lourdes. A keeper of bees, Lourdes possesses openness and empathy, often lacking in others. As Coco assists in the hives and hears folk tales of transformation, pieces seem to fall into place. Yet saying what’s realized aloud remains difficult among tight-knit neighbors, where one’s name and role are expected to stay fixed.
While Coco attempts to navigate shifting identities, other family members grapple with their own demons. Artistic Ane fights to define herself as separate from her late sculptor father’s shadow, tensions exacerbated by distance from Coco’s father. Practical Lita disapproves of changes upsetting the stable order she remembers. As frustrations mount, fault lines emerge, showing private pains left unhealed.
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Through quiet moments of discovery and family disputes subtly unfolding, the film’s heart lies in its naturalistic glimpse inside lived experiences. Events shift our perspectives on each character in recognition of their shared humanity, and the summer’s gentle lessons hint at how understanding can blossom from opening our minds to journeys outside our own.
Following the Traces of Family
Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren crafts an intimate viewing experience with her use of fluid camerawork in 20,000 species of bees. Gina Ferrer García’s handheld filming style submerges us in the world of Cocó and her family, where we observe the subtle motions and tensions that arise during their summer stay in the countryside.
Solaguren and García work subtly to convey how undercurrents of disagreement ripple just below calm surfaces. Brief yet potent details, caught by the camera, hint at deeper discord. A glance away during conversation or a flicker across the face speaks volumes. Whether searching the woods for a lost child or meandering country lanes together, the camera intimately traces each character’s perspectives and detects what remains unspoken.
Composition and lighting highlight these soulful subtleties. Interior scenes are bathed in a soft, atmospheric glow that feels lived-in and laden with memory. Expressions and postures take on poignant dimensions in half-light. Outdoors, dappled foliage and glistening water color landscapes with a soothing pastoral feel, yet they also provide shelter for tough discussions in privacy beneath the trees.
This documentary-like style pulls us into the slow, indulgent rhythms of the family’s vacation yet maintains an understated sensitivity to faults and worries just below the surface. We follow, intimate yet unseen, as fractures first show signs of strain and relationships gradually bend towards understanding or break. Solaguren and García seamlessly immerse us in the delicate interplay of a family, learning the language needed to voice what truly matters most.
The Revelations Within
Much of 20,000 Species of Bees’ emotional resonance stems from its cast’s commitment to grounding even the most sensitive elements in naturalism. At the heart is Sofia Otero’s deeply felt turn as young Coco grapples with self-discovery.
Otero never leans on melodrama, instead trusting fleeting expressions and gestures to convey an inner turmoil still exploring its own contours. Hers is a performance that draws power from its fragility, inviting empathy through little more than the quiver of a smile or the searching of a gaze.
Patricia Lopez Arnaiz matches Otero’s subtlety as Ane, a mother wrestling with her own demons. Familial tensions and career anxieties color every interaction, from warmly encouraging Coco to bristling under her mother’s disapproval. Arnaiz fashions Ane a flawed yet steadfast guardian, ferrying her children through turbulence while weathering personal storms. Her complex work gives needed humanity to a character navigating conflict on private and public fronts.
Itziar Lazkano and Ane Gabarain bring further nuance to Coco’s summer. As stern grandmother Lita, Lazkano instills tradition’s grip even as compassion emerges, revealing ideology’s intertwinement with lived experience. And Gabarain imbues kindly Aunt Lourdes with quiet wisdom, a reassuring figure reflecting nature’s simple lessons. Together, they flesh out an extended family’s varying viewpoints, each performance anchored in an emotionally truthful spirit.
Throughout, Solaguren’s direction coaxes from her performers an involving intimacy. Allowing moments their due gravity, she equally finds levity in small expressions of play. It is this balance of honoring joy amid difficulty that lends the performances and films their resonant authenticity.
Flying Colors: The Symbolism of 20,000 Species of Bees
This tender drama introduces us to young Lucía, grappling with questions of identity during a summer getaway in rural Spain. While the challenges Lucía faces are deeply personal, she is not alone in her journey of discovery. Through director Estibaliz Solaguren’s guiding touch, we see many characters undergoing transformation as hidden truths come to light.
Solaguren sprinkles symbolic clues throughout, using the natural world as a mirror for her characters’ inner landscapes. Chief among these is the beehive community tended by Lucía’s aunt Lourdes, who offers a safe harbor.
Among the buzzing colonies, we see echoes of family: the hive depends on each bee fulfilling its role yet leaves space for change. Larvae shaping themselves within sealed cells reflects Lucía edging towards her full self.
Art, too, plays a role in revealing repressed feelings. Ane crafts sculpture from beeswax, literally shaping new forms. Meanwhile, her father’s shadow lingers in the studio, and through his works’ mysteries, we learn Ane has struggles of her own. Like Lucía, who challenges preconceptions, Ane dares to color outside the lines of tradition.
Wider themes emerge, from nature’s healing calm counteracting life’s complications to history’s long reach across generations. Yet throughout, color and care outweigh conflict. Lucía brightens through the support of those who see her true colors flying free. By the film’s end, understanding grows that our shared humanity outshines surface differences, and acceptance empowers each soul’s full spectrum. With empathy and artistry, Solaguren presents a vision where wisdom and wonder go hand in hand.
Finding One’s Place
The heart of Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species of Bees lies in its gentle exploration of identity and acceptance. With empathy and care, the film follows an eight-year-old who slowly comes to understand herself as a girl. Through her time in the countryside, she discovers allies who see her true self, as well as those tied too rigidly to expectations.
Solaguren artfully weaves coming-of-age themes around her young protagonist, using the pastoral setting and observational filmmaking to reveal shaded family dynamics. Some storytelling choices feel heavy-handed, such as recurring mermaid symbols.
And while focusing rightly on how others view the child, the director could have probed her inner world even more deeply. Every person’s journey is unique, and glimpsing the private process of self-realization may have added nuance.
For all its simplicity, the film taps into universal struggles in a divide too often defined by opposition. Its subtle critique lies not in accusation but in invitation—to see beyond surface judgments and embrace the complex, evolving individuals before us.
Through her absorbing debut, Solaguren starts a conversation more people must have, listening with open hearts and minds when others find their place in a world not always ready to welcome them as they are. Though she leaves room for more insight, her empathy reminds us that compassion is the first step toward understanding ourselves and each other.
Family Understanding
This tender Spanish drama tells a story of gradual self-realization that many people can relate to in some way. Young Sofía Otero delivers a breakthrough performance as Lucía, drawing viewers fully into her experience of slowly coming to understand herself during a summer in the countryside. With sensitive direction and natural dialogue, the film depicts Lucía’s journey and the challenges of those around her with insight, grace, and depth.
While certain moments stir complex feelings, the overall empathy of Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s direction leaves us hopeful. As tensions rise and miscommunications happen within Lucía’s family, their love for one another remains clear. Certain relatives need more time than others to adjust, but change does come. By the film’s end, after long days spent in the sun and surrounded by the rhythms of nature, a new comprehension has taken hold.
We see the transformational power of openness, patience, and compassion. Though societal narrowness exists beyond this tight-knit community, Lucía’s story reassures us that understanding can be found within families and from those willing to listen with an open heart rather than judge too hastily.
For anyone questioning themselves or facing questions from loved ones, this film shows that light may emerge even from difficult conversations if all participate with care, respect, and a willingness to understand lives and hearts different from our own.
The Review
20,000 Species of Bees
Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren's 20,000 Species of Bees is a graceful, poignant work that brings insight to experiences often left on the film's periphery. With empathy and care, it tells an impactful story that, through the beauty of nature and the compassion of family, finds hope even in life's most challenging transitions. For a debut, this feels both assured and brave—a thoughtful piece of cinema deserving of wide appreciation.
PROS
- A sensitive and nuanced portrayal of transgender experience
- Compelling lead performance from Sofia Otero
- Thoughtful exploration of family dynamics and generational divides
- Beautiful cinematography that enhances the film's atmosphere
- Mindful direction avoids stereotypes in favor of authentic characters.
CONS
- Some plot points or dialogue feel overly direct at times.
- Deeper themes around bee symbolism could be explored more.
- Potential for certain scenes to feel melodramatic
