Tereza, 37, has been married for 10 years and has suffered from numerous miscarriages. The film starts with her making yet another visit to her gynecologist, a woman with an unusual sense of humor. In the middle of her patient’s misery, the doctor jokes that maybe Tereza is genetically incompatible with her husband, and that she may want to try having sex with different men. The seed is planted, as Tereza realizes how monotonous her life is. She starts wearing make-up and goes out to hook up with other partners. The Dalmatian city of Split on Croatia’s Adriatic coast serves as a backdrop for the film.
Even though the story is set in a country not exactly known for its grand advancements in women’s rights, the subject matter is a global one. We may live in the 21^st century, but our world is still mostly a patriarchal one, and women are still judged negatively for lifestyle choices that are widely accepted for men.
Lana Barić not only plays the title character, but also penned the screenplay. She teamed up with a female producer, Irena Marković, and they found their director in Danilo Šerbedžija, who admits that he had a lot to learn about the topic.
“This is still a male world,” he says. “Society does not look at people’s actions equally… As a man, I felt a great responsibility to bring Lana’s beautiful screenplay to life. In these eight years of making the film I have learned to listen. In general, I believe that as a society we need to listen more, to understand and support others, those who are different in terms of gender, race, class … And we don’t do that. It is sad that we still must talk about gender equality at all. That is why I decided to get involved in this project together with Lana and Irena, so that through Tereza’s female cry we could touch as many of those people as possible who may still not understand, perceive or see the problem.”
The film has won numerous awards at a variety of festivals including the Warsaw IFF where it had its international premiere, the Mostra de València, the Belgrade FF where Lana Barić won a best actress prize; in its own country the film received multiple honors at the Pula IFF as well as an audience award at the Zagreb Film Fest.