By Ian Kane
NR | 1h 39m | Drama | 2015
There’s a certain comfort in rituals—the ones we inherit, and the ones we invent to survive. Like “My Sailor, My Love” (2018), which explored aging and reconnection without the need for sex scenes and melodrama, “Flowers” (original title: “Loreak”) avoids the typical modern romantic movie tropes.
Instead, the film meditates on absence, memory, and the quiet endurance of grief. Both films offer something rarely found in mainstream stories: space for unspoken truths to settle slowly and without spectacle.
The film focuses on the quiet unraveling of three lives linked not by sudden encounter, but through subtle, invisible threads pulled taut by loss. In its slow, deliberate pacing and hushed restraint, “Flowers” becomes less concerned with resolution and more with the quiet tension of coexistence. The film centers on memory, grief, and people never have truly understood.
What makes the narrative so affecting is how it reframes emotional disruption as something that doesn’t always announce itself. A woman begins receiving anonymous bouquets; another clings to the remains of a strained relationship; a mother-in-law performs rituals of mourning.
The bouquets begin to arrive, in “Flowers.” GJW+
These aren’t grand, cinematic acts of mourning. They’re intimate, almost mundane moments where sorrow leaks into daily life. In that mundanity, the film finds something quietly transcendent: the realization that loss isn’t always loud, but it’s always present.
Petals and Parallels
The quiet life of Ane (Nagore Aranburu) is disrupted when anonymous bouquets begin arriving at her doorstep each week. They are always fresh, always unsigned. Though the gesture is never openly romantic, it clearly affects her and quickly causes tension in her marriage.
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Ane’s husband, Ander (Egoitz Lasa), understandably wants answers. The two even go together to nearby flower shops trying to identify the sender, showing that Ander isn’t indifferent. He’s involved and concerned.
Lourdes (Itziar Ituno), in “Flowers.” GJW+
Eventually, Ane learns the flowers were sent by Benat (Josean Bengoetxea), a crane operator at her job. Their only interaction had been minimal small talk, shown briefly in a flashback. This is hardly enough to justify the personal attention he gave her.
Ane later learns Benat has died; she then secretly visits the roadside memorial for him and places flowers herself. She wasn’t grieving someone she truly knew, but reacting to a strange and ambiguous gesture that interrupted her life, and her marriage.
Mixed Messages
The film avoids labeling this dynamic, but that doesn’t make it harmless. In a committed relationship, attention from outside sources, even subtle or anonymous, can create real problems.
Ane (Nagore Aranburu) with her husband, Ander (Egoitz Lasa), in “Flowers.” GJW+
A married man sending weekly bouquets to a coworker is a breach of boundaries, regardless of intent. And Ane, instead of firmly rejecting or confronting it, subtly begins to anticipate it. That’s not innocent. It’s a breakdown in loyalty that’s rarely acknowledged when women are the ones drifting.
Ander isn’t depicted as cruel or distant. He’s simply dismissed. His concerns are brushed aside while the story focuses on Ane’s experience, as if his discomfort doesn’t count. Too often in films like this, the man’s point of view is either ignored or turned into a flaw, while the woman’s detachment is treated as “complex” or “freeing.” In truth, it’s a betrayal, whether physical or not. If the roles were reversed, no one would hesitate to call it that.
Benat’s wife Lourdes (Itziar Ituno), on the other hand, is openly bitter and hardened. Her conflict with her demanding mother-in-law adds a bit of melodrama, but it doesn’t excuse how Benat quietly distanced himself from his own home life. The film never glamorizes his actions, but it also never holds anyone accountable. Instead, it presents their behavior as a mystery to sit with, rather than a problem to address.
In the end, “Flowers” doesn’t dramatize the affair. It buries it under polite silences and unanswered questions. But that doesn’t erase the impact. The film leaves a lasting impression not because of what’s said, but because of what’s allowed to slip by without consequence.
“Flowers” is available on GJW+.
‘Flowers’ Directors: Jon Garano, Jose Mari Goenaga Starring: Itziar Ituno, Nagore Aranburu, Itziar Aizpuru Not Rated Running Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes Release Date: Jan. 7, 2015 Rated: 2 1/2 stars out of 5
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