Starring: Mateusz Więcławek, Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik, Joanna Kulig, Bogumiła Bajor
Directed by: Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert
Rating: ★★★☆☆
It is becoming increasingly clear that filmmaking duo Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert is bound for contentious topics and characters. In Kobieta z… (Woman of…) the directors feminized the title of Andrzej Wajda’s “Man of” cinematic trilogy, to recount a story of gender transition in provincial Poland during Communism. This is maybe the sole ironic zest they added in conjuring up the evolution of Adam (Mateusz Więcławek) that gradually becomes Aniela (Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik) while his country is shifting towards capitalism.
Woman of… draws a parallel between the transformation of Poland and the protagonist’s 45-year long struggle to change gender. At some point in the film, Adam disengages from Poland’s Solidarity movement. His priorities in life are irrevocably altered but he is still afraid to share his feelings with his wife Iza — mainly played by a dashing Joanna Kulig. Szumowska and Englert have met for years many with transgender people to make a film on a then-taboo topic which nowadays instead touches a raw nerve in Polish society.
Szumowska’s and Englert’s film deals with ‘transitions’ in the broad sense, including but not limited to the protagonist’s gender change struggles. In one scene a movie poster for Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Double Life of Véronique (1991) is pulled next to a placard for American romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990) on the walls of a small-town theatre. In doing so, Woman of… flashes back to the beginning of the Nineties when Polish cinematography paid a high price in terms of visibility. In those times Poland was transitioning to a free market economy and the local film industry got caught in the vice-like grip of Hollywood film distributors.
Just like Ela’s character in Imago (2023), Adam-Aniela’s need of self-expression and personal metamorphosis in Woman of… end up eclipsing her willingness to participate to the nonviolent struggle against the communist government in the Eighties. The film is jazzed up by the improbable but offbeat and constantly regenerating love story between Adam-Aniela and Iza that partially brings to mind Xavier Dolan’s melodrama Laurence Anyways (2012).
The Polish directorial duo deserves kudos for having assembled an abundant cast to portray a few round characters at different ages and so embody the passing of time through the film. One this occasion the physicality has the edge over the spirituality unlike in some of Szumowska’s most accomplished works, such as In the Name Of (2013), Body (2015) and Never Gonna Snow Again (2020), to a certain extent. Despite being well received at its Venice premiere, Woman… of has not received many accolades to date.
A pre-release screening of the film was held on March 23rd 2024 at the Pod Baranami Cinema in Krakow
Film Reviewed by Giuseppe Sedia
Published by Kino Mania on April 27, 2024