Films

In the bloom of youth, the solitary Nawojka dreams of a future far away from the family farm where she works and spends her days. With Sandra's return to her small community, Nawojka begins to experience episodes of a hidden nature, similar to those of her deceased mother, as well as the manifestation of impulses she seeks to repress at all costs. “Hell is other people,” wrote Jean-Paul Sartre — a sentiment echoed by his compatriot, filmmaker Julia Kowalski, in this shadowy feature that screened at this year’s Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. In this coming-of-age tale, framed by the horrors of a rural world ruled by men and their deadly games of denunciation that spiral into full-blown witch hunts, desire becomes the deadliest of sins, and redemption, an utter impossibility.