After killing her abusive and unfaithful husband, the religious and schizophrenic housewife Gregoria (Carmen Maura) leaves Madrid and travels to Galicia to visit a church where a stranger told her that everyone should go, dead or alive. When Gregoria arrives, she saves the life of the boy Daniel (Santiago Barón) and his mother Dorita (Ana Fernández) in gratitude invites her to have lunch at her house. Gregoria changes her name to Celia and accepts to work as nanny and chambermaid for Dorita and her dysfunctional husband Leandro (Evaristo Calvo). The violent behavior of Leandro triggers an insanity process in the delusional Celia, who is haunted by demons and ghosts while trying to protect Daniel from the evilness of his parents."La Promesa" is a dark tale of insanity and religiosity totally supported by the stunning performance of Carmen Maura. This low budget but stylish movie is surrealistic, and uses the religious fanaticism of an ordinary frustrated woman to build a suspenseful and credible story, blurring reality and insanity of the lead character to make the viewer intrigued about what is really happening. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "A Promessa" ("The Promise")

The amazing Carmen Maura plays a deeply religious maruja who gets fed up with her abusive husband and skips town after witnessing a bizarre random accident. Fate leads her to a small town and a position as a nanny for a dysfunctional couple and their strange little boy. Everything is perfect in her new life until she starts having disagreements with the patriarch and she starts to realize that there is something wrong in the house. Or perhaps she is descending into madness, set off by the clashing of her devout Catholicism and newfound liberation? This film is beautifully photographed and features lovely Spanish Gothic architecture. It never goes into full on horror like it seems to want so badly to do, but it's still a compelling film that is effective on several levels.

As the story opens, we are introduced to Gregoria, an unhappily married woman of a certain age, living with her husband in Madrid. We get clues as to why Gregoria, who appears to be a religious woman, deals with what is happening in her life at the market where we see her shopping, staring intently at the fish, that in her mind, begin to move, as though in response to what she is thinking. As she is about to get to her apartment, a painter, falls in front of her when the ropes that held him up break. This man tells Gregoria he is from a town in Galicia where there is a miraculous sanctuary before he collapses right before her eyes. Gregoria decides to deal with her husband in the only way she knows how.Gregoria decides to abandon her abusive husband and embarks on a trip up north. She has no apparent plans, but fate gets in her way when she rescues a young boy from being run over by a car. The mother of the boy, Dorita is grateful, and invites Gregoria home for tea. It's clear the boy has taken a liking to Gregoria, who, when asked by Dorita, what is her name, she answers, Celia. As fate would have it, Dorita is looking for a person to take care of Daniel, her son. The only objection to hiring Celia comes from the father of the boy, Roberto, who wants references that the woman can't produce.The pious Celia is drawn toward the famous sanctuary, where she witnesses a wooden cross crash as she is praying. Daniel clearly loves Celia, but her relationship with Roberto, his father, leaves a lot to be desired. We realize something is wrong with Celia when things turn ugly in the house. It's clear Roberto and Dorita are having difficulties and she wants a vacation away from it all to help solve their marital problems. That is the state of affairs when Celia decides to take care of things as she knows she is being dismissed from her employment.Director Hector Carre, who co-wrote the screen play, sets his story in a way that we perceive what Celia is fighting for her rights to stay with Daniel, at all costs, but in reality, it's all in Celia's sick mind where all these things are happening. The final scene in the film clearly shows Celia's liberation as she returns home.Carmen Maura, who plays Gregoria/Celia, is the best reason for watching this Gothic tale that takes place in Galicia. Ms. Maura captures all the nuances of her character and her inter action with young Santiago Baron, who is seen as Daniel, is delightful. Ana Fernandez, appears as Dorita and makes a valuable contribution. She is an actress who should be seen more often.This is a strange horror story in which its director, Hector Carre, shows a knack for telling it with great style.

La Promesa is the story of a woman who starts a new life as a nanny in a rich Galician household. The story is presented with what i consider to be a prefix, an introduction to the story which gives reference yet is independent to the whole. It defines the Celia (Gregoria is her real name) character as an abused housewife who leaving behind her tyrannical husband heads on a pilgrimage to a Church in Galicia. Upon arriving she has a chance encounter with a child who has run away from his mother and whom she saves by chance. She is promptly offered a position as nanny of the boy, with minor resistance from the father. It is his growing opposition to maternal rule which turns the woman and child docile and which Celia believing she is their only defender. This the context within which the story takes place. It is a Psychoanalitical thriller about the friction of the clashing dualities of liberation and the maternal instinct within a woman's psyche. The film is fairly loyal to POV, although it allows us to see the seams of Celia/Gregoria's reality. While it isn't the best example of photographic excellence and some post-production glossiness is less than fitting, the aesthetic aspect of the film is at the very least appropriate, leaving the plot alone in driving the viewer's interest. It is another excellent Spannish Thriller about a woman with a very intense reversion of the Oedipus Complex. This is catholicism and psychoanalysis to a very detailed extent, which is made believable by Maura's excellent portrayal but which also asks quite a bit of collaboration from the viewer in terms of adapting to the films own rules' of reality. I thought it excellent, but i do wonder if the film's more visual aspects are sufficient hint for somebody who is not willing to follow the very Spanish intellectual/religious premise.