The Little I Remember (Lo poco que recuerdo)

After returning to her hometown, a biochemist discovers that her father was responsible for a grotesque medical experiment that scarred the entire community — and destroyed her own childhood forever.

Elena Hausser, a biochemist, returns to the small town of Pinomar after surviving a violent attack in the city apartment where she lived. She moves into her late father’s old house with her husband Daniel. Her father, Josef Hausser, was once a respected doctor who became physically disabled years earlier after suffering a stroke. But the townspeople greet Elena with coldness and suspicion. A forbidden basement, an abandoned laboratory, and a mysterious notebook labeled Mendel are the first signs that something sinister lies buried within Pinomar. Josef appears to have hidden dangerous secrets — though Elena struggles to remember much of her past, having suffered memory problems for most of her life.

Amid the town’s evasive glances and growing hostility, Elena meets Brian — whose real name is Kevin Quiroga — a fugitive musician accused of murdering his partner. Together, they discover a decades-old portrait painted by the artist Vicente Robledo of a woman identical to Elena. The discovery launches them into an investigation that awakens long-buried family ghosts. As fragmented memories begin to surface, Elena slowly reconstructs a childhood shaped by medical abuse she had completely repressed. At the same time, she begins to suspect that Daniel is hiding something from her.

The local priest, Milton, reveals that the woman in the portrait was supposedly Elena’s grandmother, Raquel, a woman suffering from dementia and compulsive self-harm. But later, while searching civil records, Elena discovers there is no trace of the Hausser surname at all. The sudden death of her father accelerates the unraveling of the truth. Florencia, a former nurse who once worked for Josef, confesses that he illegally experimented with a vaccine for eclampsia that caused multiple deaths — and that she herself was imprisoned as the scapegoat for his crimes.

Daniel then reveals his own devastating secret: he is Florencia’s son, and his marriage to Elena was an act of revenge. He even admits that he orchestrated the violent attack that forced her back to Pinomar in the first place.

Haunted by dreams of her grandmother and terrified by the possibility of inheriting a neurological condition affecting her memory, Elena tracks down Victoria, another former nurse from the hospital. Victoria mentions a mysterious “Subject 2” connected to Josef’s experiments. Meanwhile, Elena discovers a strange red mark on her neck, learns she is pregnant, and is told by Florencia that Raquel never existed at all — the entire story was fabricated by the town to slowly undermine Elena’s sanity.

Inside the family mausoleum, Elena discovers the notebook belonging to “Subject 1,” where her own name appears. Ángela, the local bookseller, is listed as “Subject 2.” Both women had been used as human guinea pigs by Josef and subjected to painful experimental procedures. Ángela bears the same red mark on her neck.

Shortly afterward, Elena is kidnapped by Victoria and taken to a hidden facility where she discovers the horrifying truth: Josef is alive. He faked his death to escape public disgrace and continue his work in secret. Elena’s pregnancy is the reason she was brought there. Josef believes the fetus she carries is the missing key to perfecting his genetic research and finally “correcting” the gene responsible for eclampsia, continuing the experiments he began decades earlier on Elena and Ángela.

Josef injects Elena with an experimental substance as part of a lethal procedure involving three syringes. Only one contains the antidote that can save her life; the other two will kill her. Drugged and restrained, Elena is unable to escape.

But Brian tracks her down and frees her. During the violent confrontation that follows, Elena injects Josef at random with one of the syringes, killing him. Gravely injured, she realizes she must now choose between the two remaining syringes to survive. As the police close in, Brian makes a final sacrifice: he decides to take the blame for Josef’s murder so Elena — and her unborn child — might have a chance at freedom if she chooses correctly.

Elena survives.

Five years later, she visits Brian in prison with her young son. The reunion feels like a moment of closure — until Elena notices a familiar red mark on the child’s neck. The terror returns instantly: the past is not over, and the cycle of horror may be beginning again.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: José Ignacio Valenzuela is an award-winning Chilean novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He has published more than fifteen bestselling books for children and young adults, and in 2016 was selected by The New York Times’ About magazine as one of the ten best young Latin American writers. As a screenwriter, he has worked on television dramas and series including Who Killed Sara?, one of Netflix’s major international hits.

Lo poco que recuerdo (The Little I Remember) is a psychological thriller built around family secrets, collective conspiracies, and forbidden medical experimentation. The novel combines investigative suspense with relentless twists, sustained tension, and an unsettling scientific undercurrent.

Its audiovisual potential is especially strong as a psychological thriller with a striking visual language adaptable to virtually any location. The emotional and dramatic relationships between the characters deepen the story’s appeal, while its unsettling open ending leaves the door wide open for future installments and franchise potential.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Film, TV Film.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.