BODY

The cynical criminologist Janusz, his anorexic and self-doubt-driven daughter Olga, New Agey Anna – three profoundly different characters with one thing in common: loss and loneliness rule their lives. Whereas Janusz finds escape in alcohol and fatty food, the latter is Olga’s number one enemy. Her refusal to eat finally leads to a breakdown. Her worried father checks her into a clinic, where Olga encounters the psychologist Anna. Also coping with a heavy loss, Anna has withdrawn from her surroundings and cultivates contact with the world of the dead as a medium. These three lives, marked by suffering, scepticism and isolation, are sent off in new directions through their collision with one another: the prevailing deafening silence gives way to quiet attempts at communication and nearness. Bristling with black humour, Małgorzata Szumowska’s new film is an honest, empathetic depiction of the complex processes that unfold after traumatic experiences. The body becomes a mirror for the state of the soul.