Directed by: Anna Jadowska
Starring: Dorota Pomykała, Bogdan Koca, Adam Bobik
Rating: ★★★☆☆
There has never been a shortage of ageing female characters teetering on the brink of personal disaster in Polish cinematography. No need to dig into the cinema of moral anxiety from the Seventies. We only have to look back at the last few months. Dorota Kolak, as the midwife Marlena in Tomasz Wasilewski’s overrefined and morbid drama Głupcy (Fools), has a stronger contender for the most memorable performance of 2022 in Polish cinema. It happens to be that the character of Mira in Anna Jadowska’s Kobieta na dachu (Woman on the roof), interpreted by Dorota Pomykała, also is an obstetrician in her sixties sinking into midlife crisis.
Both films tackle the change of life in a woman – as opposed to Marlena, Mira’s sex drive is all water under the bridge. What Mira needs the most is probably tenderness and marital support from her husband Julek (Bogdan Koca). After purchasing food for her fish, she hesitantly attempts to rob a bank in her locality using a kitchen knife. She is then interrogated by the police and suddenly spirals down into personal decline in which there is hardly any way out.
Pomykała, in her portrayal of Mira, is truly phenomenal in conjuring up the mental health setbacks, loneliness and depression typical of this age. Does the woman need only a boost of the adrenaline to feel alive? Is this the reason why takes the risk of attempting a petty heist within walking distance from her flat? Yes, at least partially. Pomykała’s acting would have not been so convincing, if it was not for the impeccable directorial frame Jadowska mounted to situate the main character in the story.
Through her career the Polish director has shown a penchant for stories populated by precarious characters placed right above the poverty line and who are almost ready to anything to gain a bit more of comfort in life. So is the case of Z miłości (Out of love), a drama centred around a young couple that tries to earn money from amateur porn. Similarly, in Woman on the roof, which was penned by Jadowska herself, Mira is presented as a vulnerable and debt-ridden person that has turned to loan sharks to increase a bit her purchasing power and buy nice gadgets to Julek.
Even if Krzysztof Krauze’s Dług (The Debt, 1999) still remains the quintessential Polish drama on the topic of debt traps, Woman on the Roof finds it trump card in Pomykała’s outstanding delivery in the role of a lifetime. Visually, Jadowska and Łódź-taught cinematographer Ita Zbroniec-Zajt, have done everything in their power to give prominence to Mira and her misfortunes. They blessed as much as they could her figure with natural light. The clinic-like pastel blue set designs and costumes which dominate far beyond the hospitals’ walls also contribute to put Mira’ figure in the spotlight.
In this sense, their mission can be considered accomplished since the Polish thesp garnered a few important awards in Gdynia and Tribeca for her performance in Jadowska’s bespoke and dignified drama.
Film Reviewed by Giuseppe Sedia
Published by Kino Mania on February 12, 2023