\u00bbIf I forgot about myself, it wouldn\u2019t be good for my daughter.\u00ab Alexandra Makarov\u00e1<\/p>\n
In 1980s Vienna, dissident artist Perla has built a successful, stable life with her daughter Julia, a talented young pianist, and her new partner Josef. The traumas of her youth in communist Czechoslovakia have faded or been replaced by new memories: \u00bbI didn\u2019t flee,\u00ab she claims, \u00bbI received a scholarship.\u00ab When her ex Andrej \u2013 Julia\u2019s father \u2013 is released from prison, claiming to be seriously ill, Perla decides to undertake a risky journey, only to find that Andrej wants to force his way back into her life. Torn between the past and the present, Perla oscillates between hope and self-destruction, and the strain slowly begins to show in her relationship with her daughter.
\nPerla\u2019s internal conflicts and resilience form the heart of this meticulously crafted Cold War psychological thriller. The film\u2019s careful attention to detail makes her character deeply relatable: singing along to her vinyl records from Asia, talking to her daughter or immersed in her art. George Weiss\u2019 cinematography, Klaudia Kiczak\u2019s set design and, first and foremost, Rebeka Polakov\u00e1\u2019s nuanced performance make the emotional toll on Perla tangible \u2013 her struggle to balance motherhood and artistry, her inner life in exile and the insidious mechanisms of the totalitarian system.<\/p>\n