BEGINNING | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Dea Kulumbegashvili (18, 120 mins)
A restrained and disturbing Georgian drama that takes its time but with threat omnipresent, as the film follows one woman’s oppression amidst an escalation of claustrophobic abuse. Ia Sukhitashvili plays Yana, a woman who has given up her career as an actress and followed her husband David (Rati Oneli) in his quest to rise higher in the religious ranks of a Jehovah’s Witness community. The film is full of static imagery in a reduced ratio frame that already confines the central character, illustrated in long static shots that are masterfully composed but often grim to watch.
It opens in a church as a service begins: worshippers file in, and a thematically rich sermon dealing with Abraham sacrificing his son is preached by David when suddenly the normality is broken by Molotov cocktails being hurled inside. The camera still does not move as the drama continues. It’s an alarmingly tense opening that infects what is to come: Yana struggles with her role within the church, as a wife and as a parent to teen son Giorgi, played by Saba Gogichaishvili. The Jehovah’s Witness community are not liked by the rest of the provincial town; the arson attack is not properly investigated and Yana is visited by a ‘detective’ whose line of questioning becomes increasingly uncomfortable.
Director Kulumbegashvili keeps her camera on single shots for uncomfortable amounts of time: asking us to observe and watch Yana’s crumbling psyche, watching her as she reclines, eyes closed, refusing to acknowledge her child yet getting some form of release. Or, more upsettingly, enduring a horrific attack, still having a disturbingly grim impact even while observed from a distance. Beginning is not an easy watch and its long takes may frustrate some, but it is immersive and troubling, with plenty to say about gender roles and ends on a note of oddness that baffles and provokes. Weighty, composed and hypnotic.
Released via Mubi on Mon 5 Apr
words KEIRON SELF