Middle-aged Maria, a single parent, lives with her three children and her alzheimer’s-afflicted father in their cramped Montevideo apartment. As she juggles her various responsibilities, her lack of support coupled with the stress of trying to stretch her tiny paycheque to cover a family of four takes its toll. She grows increasingly impatient with her father, whose needs are becoming all-consuming. Then in a moment of panic, she commits an impulsive act —with unanticipated consequences. Beset by guilt, she struggles to redeem her error... Rodrigo Plà, who scooped the audience award at the 2007 FNC with his first feature La Zona, continues to explore the breakup of the family unit and the negative effects of poverty in this, his latest work. La Demora, based on a novel by Laura Santullo (the filmmaker’s wife), is a nuanced portrayal of the distress that inexorably takes hold of a mother faltering under the weight of her burdens. Winner of the ecumenical Jury award at the most recent Berlin Film Festival, this deeply empathetic work raises questions about the fate of the elderly and rightly points out that weariness is fertile ground for despair.