User reviews

It takes too long to establish the story's thrust; and it lacks drive.

It's a serious film that explores the challenges that a wife and teacher and mother faces on a daily basis and she's about ready to give up. This film has the same vibe as the Georgian film, My Happy Family (Cheni Bednieri Okakhi). Agata Buzek is in the same predicament as Ia Shugliashvili in the latter film.

The final scene is oddly funny if it wasn't all about a serious matter.

My admiration for director Lukasz Grzegorzek for efforts to make this film work.

Not funny, no drama and the only romance appears to be ocassional leg over with a fellow work colleague.

Not sure what this movie was trying to be.

Bore off.

Like the other reviewers, I have no idea what this movie was supposed to be about. After the first 30 minutes, it just seemed to be a series of scenes randomly stuck together, almost like "Reality TV" showing a hum drum existence and the routine of life. We all live it, so there was no need to watch a movie about it! A total bore.

... a Polish version of a middle-aged haggard-mother-wife suffering mid-life crisis... fairly well acted-produced.. there's really nothing new, yet it is better than many others in its category... the ending if anything is a letdown.. being one of those 'whatever-you-want-it-to-be' finales

... 2nd-3rd viewing... went back looking at the ending a couple different times... finally understand, she was confirming a choice at the ending... one she had been making over and over throughout the entire movie, told in a final-gaze ... possibly her family coming to that realization as well.

Joanna (Jo) is a handsome, stylish woman in her middle/late forties. She lives in a small Polish town with her husband Witold (Witek), who is outwardly kind and patient, although emotionally detached. They both are professors in a local high school; Witek is also serving a term as principal. Jo is having an affair with Maciek, a fellow professor; the relation, except for sex isn't going anywhere. Jo and Witek live in a cramped apartment together with their two sons, the wife and baby of the eldest (who can't afford their own apartment) and Jo's mother, which is suffering from Alzheimer and is reaching the point of 24/7 care. Jo seems in charge of household chores, sometimes ungraciously assisted by her daughter-in-law. She is genuinely interested in her students and relates easily with them.

This is it. For the duration of the movie we witness the family and their problems, which grow more pressing as the story proceeds. As in real life there are no easy solutions. The ending is open; everybody is overwhelmed by their troubles and the future is bleak, but the family finds an emotional connection absent until then. The effect of the tale is voyeuristic; we witness snatches of happenings in the life of strangers and we can join the dots according to our imagination (or not join them at all).

Acting is excellent (not unusual in Polish movies), Most of the weight falls on Agata Buzek, playing Jo. She has screen presence and conveys emotions in a subtle, low key, often nonverbal way, sometimes through closeups of her face or just her eyes. Direction is fluid, and cinematography matches the bleakness of the tale and the drabness of the scenario. Finally, there are touches of whimsical humor, such as the portrait in Witek's office that he abuses on a daily basis.

To portray a "wonderful life", I emphasize in quotes, it is necessary to reflect the triviality of mundane life; If you have experienced any of the roles seen in the film, you will understand what this comment is about. It is not easy to show the dark sides of life after forty, nor to embody the solutions we find to survive the apathy and inconsistency of social stigmas. I appreciate the ending, and I dream that this is how most all the true stories end.