La abadesa: Blanca Romero on Emma and a bold cinematic role

Blanca Romero (Gijón, 1976) returns to the cinematic forefront with La abadesa, a film of exquisite craft that narrates the story of Emma, a 17-year-old who is named abbess to repopulate and Christianize borderlands in conflict with the Moriscos. She embodies an atheist, steadfast, cultured, and rebellious nun, a daring performance that Romero handles with brilliance, just as she did in her notable debut on the big screen in 2009 with After, after success as a model. The director, Antonio Chavarrías, had seen her in La luz de Elna and decided: Eloísa is Blanca. “I needed an actress with a very powerful register to give strength to the character. They suggested other actresses, and she said no; I did the screen test and she gave the character to me,” says the Asturian actress, a woman who is strong and hypersensitive.