Back to the Family

Upon hearing her beloved grandmother is dying, a young woman returns to rural Lithuania, where she must confront a past she’s tried to forget. Sharunas Bartas unflinchingly examines family fractures, capturing unspoken tensions and simmering resentments within an isolated rural household.

Simona, who left her home in rural Lithuania some years ago, returns on the news that her grandmother, her primary carer when she was young, is dying. Her arrival is met with ambivalence by her parents, whose relationship has deteriorated into a series of rage-fuelled exchanges. Her father had previously been imprisoned, and while incarcerated, her mother turned to drink, which has destroyed her life. But Simona’s feelings towards her parents are stained by experiences in her youth, which gradually become clear over the course of her short stay.

A filmmaker of searing and uncompromising honesty, Sharunas Bartas’ work explores the fragile mantle upon which his characters eek out their existence. He returns to IFFR with one of his finest films, which forensically deconstructs the domestic space, capturing recriminations that have shaped Simona, gradually revealing the reasons behind her departure. Alongside a cast whose pitch-perfect performances convey the intensity of repressed emotions, Bartas’ camera records every detail that informs us of myriad unmentioned – or unmentionable – events. Most impressively, the film pays forensic attention to established traditions, particularly religious rituals, which act as a social veneer – papering over cracks in the community and offering some semblance, albeit temporary, of unity.

– Vanja Kaludjercic

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