Solitude has a myriad forms, as do the attempts to escape it. Olga opts for self-destructive anorexia, her father chooses the bottle, and the unconventional therapist who's supposed to help them believes in the hereafter. This family drama about the difficulty of coming to terms with the loss of someone close won Best Director at the Berlinale.
Olga, who struggles with anorexia, has been living with her father since her mother’s tragic death. As a prosecutor her father has to deal with dead bodies on a daily basis, so he doesn’t really acknowledge his daughter’s loss. For his part, he handles his own bereavement with doses of cynicism and liquor, for which Olga cannot excuse him. Obstinacy prevents them from reaching out to one another, and the problems they face under the same roof culminate in Olga’s breakdown, after which she is placed under professional supervision. Therapist Anna, who is convinced she can communicate with the dead, offers them some unconventional assistance... A family drama with elements of black comedy which focuses on three lonely individuals who are trying to escape their sorrow: one to esoterica, another to the bottle, and the third to her own destruction. The characters also serve as a mirror reflecting a modern Poland that is abandoning its traditional values, but doesn’t know where to turn: to a world of illusory ideals like Olga, to cynicism and vodka like her father, or back to spiritual beliefs, where Anna seeks her salvation?
Kamila Dolotina
90 min / Color, DCP
Director Małgorzata Szumowska
/ Screenplay Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert
/ Dir. of Photography Michał Englert
/ Editor Jacek Drosio
/ Art Director Elwira Pluta
/ Producer Jacek Drosio, Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert
/ Production Nowhere
/ Coproduction D35
/ Cast Janusz Gajos, Maja Ostaszewska, Justyna Suwała, Ewa Dałkowska
/ Sales Memento International
Małgorzata Szumowska (b. 1973, Kraków) studied direction at the Polish National Film School in Łódź (1998) and, apart from making feature and documentary films, she is currently also a screenwriter and producer. In her films she addresses inter-personal issues stemming from social taboos. Her debut Happy Man (Szczęşliwy człowiek, 2000) was nominated for a European Film Award and, that same year, Szumowska was appointed a member of the European Film Academy. She has been regularly presenting her films at the Berlinale since 2004. Her previous film In the Name of (W imię…, 2013) searched the soul of a gay priest and took away the Berlin IFF’s Teddy Award for the best film treating a queer theme. Problems of contemporary society, Poland in particular, are also examined in her latest film, Body (2015), which brought her Best Director (ex aequo) in the main competition at Berlin.
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