Bunker Review: Javier Bardem & Penélope Cruz Lead Timely Thriller About Fears Of The Future [TIFF]

Bunker is a psychological thriller that addresses hierarchies of wealth inequity and growing individualism through the intimacy of a marriage.

Published Sep 16, 2026, 7:33 AM EDT

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Real-life husband and wife Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz had starred in eight movies over the course of 34 years, but it’d been eight years since their last on-screen collaboration. The couple break their working hiatus in Bunker, a psychological thriller that addresses hierarchies of wealth inequity and growing individualism through the intimacy of a strained marriage.

Screening at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Bunker follows literary agent Sofia (Cruz) and architect Miguel (Bardem), a married couple of 17 years who relocated from Madrid to London five years prior. On the surface, their relationship is amicable, although the two have grown increasingly distant over time. Their marriage is then exposed to newfound strain when a mysterious tech billionaire (Paul Dano) asks Miguel to build a bunker that can house and protect a select group of the ultra-wealthy in case of an apocalypse. The proposition puts the couple at odds and causes tension, made all the more troublesome by a neighbor’s (Stephen Graham) intrusion on their privacy and the arrival of a handsome young author (Patrick Schwarzenegger).

Bunker Fascinatingly Addresses Individualism And Fear Of The Future

In recent years, quietly unsettling articles have popped up online about billionaires’ investments in private underground shelters, presumably to protect them against potential global catastrophes like nuclear war, climate disaster, or social unrest. Do the 1% know something the rest of the world doesn’t? Rather than examine the paranoia of this idea on a grand, global scale, filmmaker Florian Zeller opts for a more intimate portrayal through the lens of a family whose deepest issues are exposed, not necessarily created, by the most tantalizing of offers.

The offer itself comes with a degree of irony, and a lot of ominous intrigue. The paradox of a tech billionaire who made his wealth from an app connecting others now suddenly wanting to create a bunker that will isolate him and select others from the world is an interesting jumping-off point for the story. As more details are revealed about the nature of this billionaire and his motivation, it becomes clear that he is painfully aware of this paradox, yet this does not waver him one bit.

In an interesting parallel between Bardem and Dano’s characters, Bunker comments on the Russian doll nature of aporophobia, or the aversion toward those poorer than you. While Dano’s billionaire fears the impoverished coming after the wealthy like himself, Bardem’s Miguel holds similar concerns, albeit on a smaller scale. His neighbor, played by an always-incredible Stephen Graham, has decided to knock a hole in the exterior wall separating their homes so that he can have a room with sunlight for his studio. Additionally, Miguel is going to great lengths to invest in ludicrously elaborate home security systems, further emphasizing just how paranoid he is of those poorer than him encroaching upon his ‘perfectly’ constructed existence.

Through this exploration of a fear of thy neighbors, Bunker comments on the rampancy of individualism in the modern day. People like the billionaire and Miguel are figuratively and literally hunkering down, turning more insular, and pivoting away from a collective care for others.

Bunker Succeeds With Its Protagonist's Journey More Than Its Central Relationship

Cruz’s Sofia takes issue with all of this, especially as she sees that the offer has changed her husband. Naturally, Cruz and Bardem share amazing chemistry and play the quiet tension of their relationship well, although her concerns admittedly feel somewhat unfounded. The idea that she sees the kind of person her husband is becoming simply doesn’t land that well, as Miguel is doing things that seemingly any logical person would do. Who wouldn’t find issue with a neighbor building a window that looks directly upon their garden and home? Who wouldn’t consider an offer of hundreds of millions of dollars to build a bunker for a billionaire?

In positioning Bardem as a more central figure in the story than Cruz, Bunker excels far more with its chronicle of a man’s succumbing to the individualistic pressures of the world, rather than a couple’s contrasting responses to potential fears of the future. Cruz plays the beats she’s afforded with characteristic poise and dramatic precision, but scenes of her developing chemistry with Patrick Schwarzenegger’s handsome author feel undercooked and do little to flesh Sofia out as a character in her own right.

Bardem brings remarkable groundedness, logic, and relatability to his father figure and husband character.

Far more interesting is Bardem, who delivers another stellar performance out of TIFF 2026 following his turn in The Beloved. Bardem brings remarkable groundedness, logic, and relatability to his father figure and husband character, which helps drive home Zeller's point about even the most reasonable, accomplished, and intelligent of people can unwittingly fall into the trap of aporophobia.

Things come to a head in an unexpectedly tense third act. Although wrapping up its themes and delivering its relevant commentary with clarity, the film errs by having a critical climatic event happen off-screen, in turn depriving it of a resounding dramatic punch.

Instead, however, Zeller leaves little room for ambiguity or audience interpretation in the messaging he offers up. The writer-director is crystal clear about his thoughts on wealth disparity, ecological threat, and the deleterious effects of an increasingly individualistic society. He doesn’t do anything particularly groundbreaking with these ideas, although he certainly succeeds in getting his message across and encouraging audiences to leave the theater being more willing to open windows to the world than put up walls.

Bunker screened at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.