A space of one’s own
Yana has given up her acting career to follow her husband’s initiative to become a Jehovah’s Witness missionary in a remote Georgian village. When locals burn down their place of worship during a service, pressure falls squarely on Yana. She is surrounded by unsympathetic and manipulative men—the police, her husband, God, her son—and searches with quiet desperation for a space where she can know peace. Her story is at once intense and harrowing, but portrayed in a remarkably unconventional fashion by an outstanding new female director. Striking compositions and lingering takes are the trademarks of Déa Kulumbegashvili’s style. A close shot of a hand placed on the back of a bus seat is sufficient to allow us to feel Yana’s state of mind. The sheer originality of this film is what allows it to resonate.
