Another Man | BFI Flare 2026
Another Man is a millennial coming-of-age reminiscent of Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, with similarly nuanced relationships and sympathetic performances from our leads.
Inspired by the lockdowns of the early 2020s, David Moragas’s Catalan-language domestic drama Another Man is a film about feeling trapped - in your home, in your relationship, in your life - and indulging in a voyeuristic entanglement with your hot neighbour.
Thirty-something Marc (Lluís Marquès) lives with long-term boyfriend Eunald (Quim Àvila) in the stylish Sant Antoni neighbourhood of Barcelona in a beautiful, but increasingly claustrophobic apartment. Their relationship is stable, although not without its petty grievances: you’ve taken up smoking again; you eat your food too quickly; your friends are vapid; I want to socialise, but you’re more of a homebody.
Marc and his highly-strung sister Marta (Bruna Cusí) are mourning the recent death of their mother. In addition to their grief, the siblings both face a sense of mounting pressure that they should really start to have their respective adult lives figured out by now. When Eunald suggests moving out of the city, Marc becomes fixated on the handsome man across the street, who comes to embody an alternative fantasy life to the one he shares with Eunald.
Reassuringly (or depressingly?) Marc and Eunald are not the only ones going through a life crisis. Marta is unhappy with her husband, who is openly resentful of their move to the suburbs, and worries that her young son might be gay. Eunald’s friends have inherited a house and are ready for a baby, but make a clumsy attempt to open their relationship. Marc’s friend is enjoying a hedonistic single life, but admits he feels increasingly alienated as those around him start to settle down.
Moragas has not made a film about struggling with one’s sexuality; nor are the conflicts in Marc and Eunald’s relationship unique to the gay experience. Instead, this is a film where everyone is chafing at the constraints of their current life, against the backdrop of a city that is becoming more and more unaffordable for young couples and families.
It’s not all doom and gloom, however! Another Man made me laugh on plenty of occasions. Marquès and Àvila both get their opportunities for comedy, whether they’re dropping a coffee mug from the height of their balcony or making one of the most inappropriately timed come-ons in cinema history. Cusí as Marta was also a special standout for me, with her road rage and self-deprecation reminding me of the similarly neurotic Claire from Fleabag (Sian Clifford) Moragas has also found plenty to satirise about Barcelona’s millennials: there are references to Salomon trainers; privileged hipsters in sportswear; and “homoliberals” - one of many epithets skilfully translated from a specific Catalonian political reference.
Another Man is a millennial coming-of-age reminiscent of Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, with similarly nuanced relationships and sympathetic performances from our leads. This is a film that will no doubt inspire debate amongst audiences: are Marc and Eunald really right for each other? Is this a rough patch or a fundamental incompatibility? A less interesting film would have made Eudald a more straightforward villain; instead, his missteps around Marc’s grief and his desire to push their relationship forward are tempered by genuine love and care. The ending of the film is just as ambiguous, leaving viewers to wonder if everyone has made the right choices, as alternative versions of their lives are inevitably and irrevocably closed.
