In a story inspired by a chance discovery by the director (Patricia Orgeta) when she found an old picture of her mother posing nearly nude, stating that “I knew her as my mother, but I didn’t know her as a woman.” In her film, a religious grandmother learns how to use the internet. When she accidentally comes across pornography, she is taken on a journey of self-discovery.

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After Sundance screened Good Luck to You, Leo Grande last year, in which Emma Thompson plays a mature woman who lets go of her inhibitions aided by a younger sex worker, the festival again honors women who embrace their sexuality at any age and under any circumstances in the Spanish comedy Mamacruz, portraying the title character’s voyage from religious repression to carnal enjoyment.

Patricia Ortega, a Venezuelan director, could not find funding within her own country, so she adapted her script to a location in Spain and cast as her lead the brilliant Kiti Manver, who has appeared in five Almodovar films, including the classic Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. As Mamacruz, she is initially subdued as a bored, sex-deprived housewife who logs on to her granddaughter’s internet and discovers pleasures she has been denied all her life. In the beginning, her life is shown to be a dreary succession of domestic and church duties. At church, she sews capes for the Saints who adorn the altars. Even in such an oppressive environment, Mamacruz begins to eye the nipples and parted lips of a wooden statue of Jesus agonizing on the cross, and imagines him as a flesh and blood passionate lover. As Mamacruz awakens to unknown desires and pleasures, Kiti Manver gradually unleashes her considerable comic talents on screen. The character goes beyond being a mere cause for laughter, however, as we also learn that her young granddaughter is living with her, that her absent daughter is auditioning for Vienna’s ballet company, and that a friend is dealing with a serious illness.

The film comes alive when Mamacruz joins a sex therapy workshop. We are introduced to a delicious assortment of older women who bring joy and laughter into her life, along with a moving dose of heartbreak. As she learns to let go of her inhibitions, she gets off on smoking pot, drinking booze, and experimenting with sex toys. The actors’ Andalusian accents and expressions provide more fun as the women speak freely about their desires and sexual exploits. Set in the torrid climate of Seville, there are opportunities for the women to feel hot and bothered or, as the case may be, hot and horny: “Cachondas,” as the Spanish define them, or, more rudely, “guarras” (sluts).