The Coffee Table 2024

As Jesús Casas (no actor name provided) and his partner María stroll through a furniture store with their precious newborn Cayetano (“Cayetanín”), they embark on a mundane mission to acquire a coffee table. Their excursion is disrupted by a salesman who claims to share their child’s namesake, Cayetano - a moniker that Jesús finds distasteful and reminiscent of a ruthless bullfighter. The vendor showcases an expensive, supposedly superior table with unbreakable glass, but María remains skeptical and refuses to indulge his sales pitch. As they depart with the baby, she takes aim at the salesman’s inflated promises, leaving him reeling.

Undeterred, Jesús purchases the table, grumbling that María has denied him the autonomy to make a choice. Back in their inherited apartment, now filled with the echoes of his grandmother’s memories, Jesús sets out to construct the offending piece of furniture. His solitary endeavor is interrupted by Ruth, a 13-year-old girl who resides upstairs and harbors a fixation on Jesús. Her unwanted advances are rebuffed, but not before she threatens to report him for pedophilia. As Jesús navigates this awkward situation, he discovers that a crucial screw is missing from the table.

Seeking assistance, Jesús contacts the salesman, who promises to provide an alternative screw. Meanwhile, María departs to procure groceries and wine in anticipation of a visit from Jesús’ brother Carlos (no actor name provided) and his partner Cristina. This temporary reprieve leaves Jesús alone with Cayetano for the first time, and he struggles to soothe the baby’s cries. In a heart-wrenching turn of events, the glass pane - despite the salesman’s assurance that it was unbreakable - shatters and decapitates the infant, leaving Jesús physically and emotionally scarred.

As Jesús (Jesús) sits frozen in horror, his gaze fixed on the gruesome remains before him, he begins the painstaking task of cleaning up the carnage that once was his apartment. The headless corpse is carefully placed in the crib, but the severed head lying beneath the chair proves too overwhelming for Jesús to confront. Seeking solace, he borrows bleach from Ruth, whose growing unease is palpable. Meanwhile, a salesman arrives at Jesús’ doorstep with the missing screw, attempting to broker a date while oblivious to the chaos that has unfolded. As María (María) enters the scene, Jesús’ agitation only intensifies, as he frantically prevents her from approaching the crib’s room. The tension is momentarily alleviated when María learns of the shattered glass pane on their table, a seemingly trivial matter that serves as a fleeting distraction from the dark reality.

As the evening wears on, Jesús’ erratic behavior becomes increasingly pronounced, leaving him unable to respond coherently to his guests’ queries. Cristina’s revelation of her pregnancy only adds fuel to the fire, and when Carlos expresses enthusiasm for his unborn child to be friends with his cousin Cayetanín, Jesús’ apathy is palpable. His dismissive remark about his brother’s situation promptly deflates the atmosphere, leaving María and their guests feeling uneasy.

In a desperate attempt to process the unspoken truth, Jesús retreats to the bathroom to record a suicide note for María, only to be overheard by Carlos. Together, they plan to reveal the horrifying reality to María, but their approach is foiled when Ruth slips into the apartment with her dog, spreading rumors of Jesús’ dalliance with her in the elevator. As the tension in the dining room becomes almost unbearable, the dog’s keen sense of smell leads it to the baby’s severed head, sending Jesús crashing into catatonia.

Cristina’s nausea and Ruth’s hysterical screams further exacerbate the chaos, until María, her composure shattered, takes hold of the baby’s head and opens the balcony door. The once-peaceful apartment has devolved into a scene of utter devastation, where the boundaries between reality and madness have been irreparably blurred.

Some time later, the authorities gather outside, discussing the gruesome tableau that lies before them – the lifeless bodies of María and Jesús, and their decapitated infant. Carlos sits catatonic in a police car, his only intelligible utterance being the phrase “La mesita del comedor,” as reported by one of the agents, leaving the extent of his trauma unknown.