VICTORY DAY

The setting could hardly be more laid-back: Perched comfortably on couches, gay and lesbian couples talk about their relationships and everyday life in St. Petersburg. Alas, while outside the annual military parade to mark Victory Day is taking place, here on the inside it becomes very clear how quickly an individual’s life can be consumed by anxiety about the future. The self-evidently withdrawn existence of the film’s protagonists is punctuated again and again by images and hateful rants from contemporary media: “Homophobia is wonderful …They can carry out their abominable activities where no one can see them.” But the couples’ common desire is an absolutely universal one: to also be permitted to be a part of society beyond one’s own four walls.