Woman of... (2023) User Reviews

Being transgender in Poland

[ton-ijlstra · 8/10 · 22 April 2024]

Woman of... (2023); Directed by Michal Englert and Malgorzata Szumowska;132 minutes; With: Malgorzata Hajewska, Joanna Kulig, Mateusz Wieclawek, Bogumila Bajor

Woman of.... is a co-production of two experienced Polish hands in the field: Magorzata Szumowska (1973, nominated at a number of major festivals for various films) and Michael Englert (1975, originally a cinematographer but now also director of various productions). They are the heirs of a great Polish film history in which often pressing social themes are addressed. Woman of.... is no exception. Aniela Wesoly (Malgorzata Hajewska) was born Andrzej and turns out to be in the wrong body as a man. This fact is intelligently announced at various points in the film, but only halfway through the film does it become clear that Aniela wants to become the woman she already is. In the very first image of Woman of.... it becomes clear to the good listener that the blond curls of the young man going up for his first Holy Communion are a reference to the theme of the film. Despite this latent fact, young Andrzej develops as a normal boy with normal boy things. He marries Iza (fantastically played by multi-talented Joanna Kulig) and the couple has children. In the film, the flashbacks are marked by the year the flashback goes to. The story jumps back and forth somewhat, so you need to pay attention. Around the age of 18, Aniela must appear for the medical examination for military service (1980), where it will turn out that her painted toenails will keep her out of service. From that moment on, Aniela's interest in herself increases and we increasingly see Aniela's secret glances at herself and where she tries to introduce herself as a woman. Despite the 'normal' life she seems to lead, the realization that she is in the wrong body increases and takes on an increasingly larger role in Woman of.... This realization is the cause of the distance between Aniela and her wife and her family. All this happens in a turbulent social context. The fall of the Wall, the creation of Solidarnosc around 1980, accession to the European Union in 2004 and all other political changes in post-1986 Poland. What does not change in Poland is the power of the conservative parties and the Catholic Church . Aniela's journey to officially change gender is littered with obstacles, prejudices and opposition. Woman of.... It is not without reason that it is dedicated to everyone in the LGBTQ community and their loved ones. In order to change gender, she must divorce Iza and take her parents to court. Ultimately, the break with Iza becomes final and Aniela has to stand on her own two feet: find housing, new relationship, new job because she is fired because of her gender quest. There are just so many side paths in Woman of.... that are accessed and elaborated. It produces good cinema and the acting in the film is of very high quality and sometimes even phenomenal. The camera work is also of very high quality. The film lasts over two hours, which is a bit on the long side. Not every side path needs to be taken and sometimes it also distracts from the main theme. The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion (2023) at the Venice Film Festival (as well as the Queer Lion). Woman of.... makes it clear that life in Poland as a transgender is not easy and portrays this beautifully.

Ton IJlstra

Rating: 4

Release May 2, 2024.

Kobieta z...

[philschn · 9/10 · 11 February 2024]

In their latest film Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert wink at Andrzej Wajda, whom they consider their master. Tracing back since the 1980s communist Poland to nowadays capitalist society, their latest film 'Kobieta z...' aims at addressing the changing realities of the country since the last decade of Sovietic yoke in a way that echoes to the man who once shot The Man of Marble and The Man of Iron. As a symbol of the hardships transgender individuals face in today's Poland stands the story of Aniela and her journey to deal with the gender dysphoria she started to experience in her teenage years.

Spanning 45 years, the story of Aniela Wesoly, born under the first name 'Adam' is set in a small village and opens in a glacial atmosphere of a school medical check-up, which instantly raises the question of our relationship to the body. As the story unfolds many consultation scenes punctuate the narrative and accentuate Adam's unease with the body he was brought to the world in, which contrary to what a seemingly correct and friendly doctor would have us believe, is not simply a testosterone issue solvable by a few injections or by resorting to one of the prettiest prostitutes. This same coldness and intensity continues right up to the film's final moments, when the question of divorce between Aniela and her teenage sweetheart arises, and the brutality of the law takes its toll on the family life of a soul like Aniela's.

The film also presents us with some very tense situations in which Adam's true nature is about to be exposed, such as when he plays with his son disguised as a woman, and hastily puts his male mask back on when his wife Iza comes home. But besides hardships, the story features moving moments of partnership and connection. No character is being judged, and neither is Aniela's wife, who despite feeling at first betrayed and rejecting the man she married, ends up accepting him as her, leaving a strong message of love and empathy overcoming stigma. The latter message is also stressed by the acceptance of his son, who confessed to his father during a cigarette break that he had doubts about his sexual orientation, but that was not serious in his eyes, since he belongs to a new, more open generation, and that their relationship is more important than following the closed mores of yesteryear. One also notices a touching reference to Veronique's double life as Aniela, still Adam, is on a night stroll with his girlfriend, already approaching the realization that there lies another self of his... With their film acting also as a metaphor of the transition of the country, Szumowska and Englert aimed at bringing a narrative seldom heard in a society characterized by a heavy polarization of attitudes, which once united together in solidarity to overthrow the communist regime. This is exactly the string this piece seeks to pull, in order to make more people understand the tragedy of not identifying with the body we were born into, and ultimately to amplify the advocacy for amendments in the law that secure a life devoid of threats. Yet, the minor shortcomings in the storytelling which can be explained by the very bold approach of trying to tackle so many themes over a 45 years span are largely overshadowed by the phenomenal acting of both Mateusz Wieclawek and Malgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik, as well as by the emotional intensity of the film, which doesn't descend too far into darkness and which, particularly with the scenes of discussions in circles of trans people, reminds us of the beauty lying in the fight of asserting one's own identity. Noteworthy is also the fact that this is the fruit of years of collecting queer narratives, realized by an LGBTQ+ crew providing the public with a narrative full of nuances, making it a profoundly human film that will surely leave many, like me, on the verge of tears, but full of hope.

9/10. Gothenburg Film Festival 2024.