POWRÓT

Ulka – always cheerful, singing in the church choir and taking part in a singing competition – is suddenly gone. Believed dead by her parents, she returns to the small town of her not too distant youth – changed.  Her boyfriend had her work as a prostitute for several years. She managed to escape. However, the reception is cold: Ulka’s mother tries to erase her past through prayers, her older brother ignores her, and her father worries about the damage to the image of his tour company for pilgrimages that might result from the return of his lost daughter. Only her little brother Karol is unconditional in his desire to be close to her. The increasingly threatening appearance of Ulka's former pimp also makes the echoes of the past gradually sound louder.

Magdalena Łazarkiewicz’s sixth feature film is a haunting portrait of psychological violence in families and its effects on communities. The hypocritical decency complicates sincere mercy and gestures of understanding. Łazarkiewicz succeeds masterfully in not judging her characters: psychologically coherent and visually impressive. WK