53 Sundays (53 domingos)

It's Friday.

It's almost 7:00 in the evening.

My husband's siblings will come to our house soon

because they have a family matter to dispute.

"Dispute," without a doubt, is the most appropriate verb

when it comes to Julián and his siblings.

Give me the other one. The same one as last week.

And some cheese too.

Julián said not to buy anything, but I thought,

since they almost never get together… right?

There are three of them. Víctor is the eldest.

Then there's Natalia.

And, finally, there's Julián, my partner.

It was Natalia who insisted they needed to get together

to talk about their father.

My father-in-law is 89 years old.

He's a widower.

She's absolutely right to say he can't live alone anymore.

He's been getting lost more and more often.

And lately, he's developed the bad habit of showing his penis to female neighbors.

That's all. What do I owe you?

The thing is, according to Natalia, they need to make a decision fast

before the situation gets worse and something serious happens.

Víctor already said he'd arrive a bit late.

Apparently, as always, he's just swamped with work.

Víctor is married to Marisa.

They have four children and two dogs.

They met at college when they were very young.

After a lot of persistence, they finally started dating,

and Víctor managed to get her pregnant.

His father-in-law is an important and well-known lawyer.

Before long, Víctor was working at the family firm.

Although, to this day, nobody knows exactly what he does.

He's a wannabe, a blowhard,

as Julián always calls him.

A man who does whatever his wife tells him,

just to hold on to a status he never imagined he'd have.

Natalia.

Natalia, on the other hand, is nothing like her two brothers.

She is a serious, introverted woman,

obsessively methodical, and a real perfectionist.

She's a highly respected professor, and, as if that weren't enough,

in what little free time she has,

she writes articles and translates from who knows how many languages.

Natalia married Jerónimo.

They have a daughter.

But she's never been happy.

Jerónimo has always cheated on her.

We all know it.

Fortunately, Natalia has a friend she shares a strong bond with.

They go everywhere together and get along wonderfully.

Her friend is single.

I don't mean anything by it,

but sometimes I wish Natalia weren't so serious,

so uptight, and, I don't know, that she'd loosen up a bit.

Bye.

They hardly ever get together.

And I love watching them when they do,

when they argue and fight.

I'm an only child.

My parents have passed away.

And now they're my family.

And family is the most important thing because your partner…

Well, your partner can leave you at any time.

And friends come and go.

But family, siblings, they are always there.

They don't know how lucky they are.

53 SUNDAYS

The front door.

Hello!

It's Julián. He just got here.

I'm sure he's gonna pretend he didn't remember.

Didn't what?

Nothing. I was talking to myself.

- Where are you coming from so late? - A casting.

Wow!

- You didn't tell me. - No.

A casting for a TV show?

No, for a commercial.

- Well, commercials are also on TV, right? - That's what they say.

What was the commercial for?

Gazpacho.

I play the tomato.

Well…

I'm gonna take a shower.

Sounds good.

But don't take too long. They'll be here soon.

Who will be here soon?

You're meeting your siblings, remember?

Today? Are you sure?

You said Friday, right?

Today is Friday.

Maybe I was trying to forget.

That must be it.

Some snacks?

Some snacks, yes.

- Because I knew you'd forget. - What are you insinuating?

I'm not insinuating anything. Relax.

All right.

No, I'm just saying,

the more food we give them, the longer they'll hang around.

Sure, but they don't come over often, do they?

I'm a nurse, and I work in a hospital.

Julián is an actor.

But he hasn't had much luck with work, poor guy.

When he was young, he had a few TV and theater gigs,

but things never really took off.

We met just five years ago and fell in love almost immediately.

He did, especially.

We don't have children, and we're renting this apartment.

I have three missed calls from my sister.

Yes, she called at noon to talk to you.

- I told her to call you on your cell. - What did she want?

- To see if you'd talked to Víctor. - About what?

About a light bulb.

What light bulb?

I don't know.

But she said she'd call your cell because it was very important.

A light bulb could never be that important.

It's impossible.

Carolina.

Yes?

What are you doing?

Oh, I bought some flowers.

Since we don't have any other vase, I grabbed this one.

- It was stored in the closet. - Hidden.

It was hidden in the closet. That's very different.

Your brother gave it to us, and I thought since he was coming today…

Since he was coming today, what?

Weren't you going to shower?

We discussed this. Maybe you don't remember.

I wanted to throw it off the balcony, and you didn't let me.

Oh, yes, that's true.

- But where should I put the flowers? - Tell me you didn't do it on purpose.

Oh, we have to feed the cat.

Carolina.

I'm listening.

Did you buy the flowers so you could take out the vase?

I bought the flowers because they look nice,

and it's a nice gesture for our guests.

They're my siblings, not our guests.

We don't need to make a good impression.

On the contrary.

If you don't understand how family dynamics work,

honey, you'd better stay out of it.

- How what works? - Family dynamics.

- This vase is an insult. - I don't think it's that ugly.

It's an insult, and you know that perfectly well.

It's ugly, tacky, and pretentious.

Like my brother.

And maybe you forgot,

but Víctor gave it to us for Christmas.

And then we found out the department store had given it to him.

Could you open a can?

And he thought,

"Since I have to get a present for my dumb-ass little brother,

I'll give him this shitty vase and look like a class act."

What can?

The anchovy can.

And forgive me for saying this,

but thinking it would be a good idea

to put the vase in the middle of the dining room

so Víctor would think we really liked his shitty vase

pisses me off even more.

Relax. I'll find another place to put them.

There you go again. I'm relaxed.

Don't I look relaxed?

I don't know what to tell you, honey.

Did you have a good day?

Up until recently, yes.

All I'm saying is we have to be careful with gestures.

Because you might mean well, but he's going to see it another way.

And we don't need to give him any special consideration.

He's my brother, not the prime minister. Understand?

Perfectly.

And as if them coming over weren't enough, now we have to feed them too.

Because, of course, he made sure that we do it here.

We are not worthy of getting invited to his villa in La Moraleja. No!

God forbid we stain one of his Persian rugs.

Hey, now I'm actually getting a bit nervous.

A bit, yes.

Go on, take a shower.

- What should I do with the anchovies? - Put them on the toasts.

- What time did you tell them to come? - I told Víctor to come at 8:00 p.m.

- But it's already 8:00 p.m. - I know.

He'll be half an hour late, like he always is.

Cool people, like him and his wife,

always show up last, looking like they're doing you a favor.

Your sister is the complete opposite.

That's why I told Natalia to come at 9:00 p.m.

- Want to know why I told her that? - I'm dying to find out.

Because, since I know she'll show up half an hour early,

it's the way to make sure they both meet at the front door at exactly 8:30 p.m.,

walk up together, and don't piss me off.

Having siblings is exhausting, honey.

Well, you don't get it.

If your sister arrives early, it's 'cause she wants to help.

No. If you show up early, all you do is bother people.

But, of course,

since she has this need to get involved,