“No interpretation of the film will surprise me, because that would mean I have an interpretation of my own. I don’t,” says Jagoda Szelc, the creator of one of the most daring debuts of Polish cinema in recent years, in an interview. Hers is a film that teeters between family drama and metaphysical horror; it’s clearly the work of an unrestrained imagination and an original cinematic voice. The film’s central character is Mula, who lives in a cottage with her husband, her invalid mother and her daughter Nina. The weekend before Nina’s first communion, Mula’s brother comes to visit with his family. Mula’s younger sister Kaja, who had vanished suddenly six years earlier, shows up as well. Kaja is Nina’s biological mother, and the prospect of her coming back to reclaim the child makes Mula anxious and suspicious. The other family members, after initially distancing themselves from Kaja, start believing in the sisters’ reconciliation, which makes Mula even more frustrated; the atmosphere gets increasingly tense. But the day of Nina’s Holy Communion brings the sisters’ reconciliation. Little does anyone suspect that there might be another reason for Kaja’s decision to come back.
Jagoda Szelc
Jagoda Szelc
Przemysła Brynkiewicz
Teoniki Rożynek
Anna Krotoska, Małgorzata Szczerbowska, Rafał Cieluch, Dorota Łukasiewicz-Kwietniewska, Rafał Kwietniewski
Poland