What makes separate individuals a family? Simona, who prefers to keep quiet and watch her life from the sidelines, does not know how to answer this question. Returning to her rural childhood home after several years, as her grandmother is on the deathbed, she confronts herself with the same family model she once left behind. Alcoholism, unemployment, inactivity and aggression are now present in her relationships with her mother and father, but there’s still hope in her little brother. As difficult as it is for Simona to try and once again fit into this lovelessness, she wants those who know her best to make her feel like she belongs.

Lithuanian filmmaker Bartas – a darling of international cinema, closely intertwined with the spirit of French film – returns with a memory odyssey of a young person. A Baltic Brueghel-like palette, life rituals, and character vibes right out of Latvian documentarian Ivars Zviedris’ playbook, bursts right onto a forgotten landscape that plays a second leading role alongside Simona – portrayed by the magnetic debutante Neringa Puidokaitė. Like the protagonist, whose motivation (an enigma for the viewer) to leave and return is gradually revealed, the setting is also detached from the world both geographically and emotionally. Like in his best work, such as Few of Us (1996), Bartas boldly walks a fine line between provincial despair, an unceasing past, and a wordless abyss of longing, exploring the “blind spots” of a family. Screened in the Big Screen Competition at Rotterdam, the film is co-produced by Latvian studio Mistrus Media.