Marek Kozakiewicz
Poland, Germany | 2022 | 72 min
World premiere
Language : Polish
Subtitles : English, French
At the death of her mother, Aga decides to leave her life in Germany with her partner Maja to look after her younger brother in Poland. To do this, she has to hide her love for another woman from the authorities. Closely following its protagonists, Silent Love delicately narrates their discreet struggle against a prying and viscerally homophobic society.
In a rural village in “deep” Poland, Milosz wakes up and accompanies his sister, Aga, to a hearing in the neighbouring county seat. Even though the camera immediately plunges us into the personal life of the characters, Marek Kozakiewicz patiently constructs their situation. Thanks to a fleeting shot of Aga’s face (looking off-camera), we understand that she is leading a double life : at the death of her mother, she decided to leave her life in Germany, where her partner Maja works, to look after her younger brother, whose custody she is claiming. Aga has always hidden her love for another woman from her friends and family, and must continue to hide it from social workers. The “stolen” and tender images of a relationship freely lived elsewhere are countered by the physical strictures to which Milosz is subjected at school, fixing both their future roles, and the probing questions of the court where his sister must make a good impression. Silent Love delicately captures the inner tremors that feed the trio’s discreet struggle, who little by little begin to live like a family, against the prejudices of an ultra-conservative and viscerally homophobic society.
Violeta Bava
