Julia’s attempts at integrating the cancer into her art fall flat, and Piotr’s absence forms a vacuum (but never gets its proper due onscreen). Scenes capturing the hospital-bedside awkwardness of loved ones are well played, as are the moments of jocularity within such a stressful environment. When Mom is diagnosed with cancer (a theme also explored, presciently, in the helmer’s debut, “Happy Man”), the entire family comes together, including marginalized sister Kaska (Isa Kuna), but as Barbara sinks into dementia, everyone falls apart. Julia’s career as an artist is on the rise, and she’s outwardly happy with composer hubby Piotr (Maciej Stuhr), though he’s often away.
Szumowska expertly captures the sense of ease and underlying tension that accompany family gatherings. Julia (German star Julia Jentsch) comes from a close-knit family of intellectuals that includes film-director father Jurek (Andrzej Hudziak) and novelist mother Barbara (Malgorzata Hajewska). Szumowska herself experienced something similar to her protag’s grief when both her parents died within a year, but she’s quick to establish the differences between this fictional family and her own.
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