Tereza37
Nominated for
Best Feature Film
Director: Danilo Serbedzija
100' • Croatia • 2020
Croatian
The film emphasizes the issue of the suffocating environment, the issue of the individual freedom being squeezed into given frames. Stepping out of these frames, creating a new and personal definition of one’s freedom is the main topic of this story. The film is settled in Split, a mediterranean city with unique, quite narrow minded mentality, conservative and traditional, despite it being the second largest city in Croatia. It is a perfect stage for coloring that oppressing and inhibiting petty-bourgeois atmosphere. Although this story is settled on the idyllic sea coast, the plot is free of all touristic stereotypes, as it all happens on muggy summer days in urban, mostly concrete surroundings. Tereza is 37 and has been married for a very long time. After several miscarriages, her gynecologist, in attempt to cheer her up, jokes how she should try to conceive with a different partner. This remark will shake up her monotonous life and make Tereza start questioning her marriage, the relationship with her family and people around her. She decides to steer things in a new direction, letting other men and new experiences into it, without questioning the consequences of her actions or the ultimate goal.