In her fourth directorial effort, the Serbian director Ivana Mladenović returns to the Locarno Film Festival, where she premiered her 2019 film Ivana the Terrible, now with Sorella di Clausura. The director, who currently resides in Romania, presents a story about a wasted Romanian talent – someone who never reached their potential, and lives in instability. In her new film, she narrates the story of Stella (Katia Pascariu), a philosophy graduate that does not succeed in her job. She lives with her family in a small flat, and half a dozen people live there. Yet, her most remarkable trait is her immense passion for Boban (Miodrag Mladenović), a washed-up star from the Yugoslav era. Her obsession with the singer leads her to bond with Vera Pop (Cendana Trifan), a collaborator of the artist and a new icon of the new Romanian pop. Vera motivates Stella to write a book about her mania with the artist, also narrating her struggles with depression and her sexuality.
In this sense, Sorella di Clausura is a dark comedy about failure and excesses. The director introduces several exaggerated situations to expose the problematic behavior of the lead character, a woman whose passion for an artist blinds her judgment. The director divides the story into chapters. In the first one, Charlie the Businessman, the film focuses on Stella’s difficulty being in a more intimate relationship. Her decisions harm any intimacy and affection with Charlie, a man who owns a stand at a fair. Her inability to help with his business also affects how they deal with each other, particularly because of her love with Boban. In a hilarious and over-the-top moment, Stella masturbates herself lying in a large poster of Boban. Charlie, her ex-lover and a potential new tenant for her apartment, interferes while she walks nude in the flat, and shocks the visitors. It is a lengthy scene, approximately ten minutes, but it explicitly demonstrates who Stella is. She does not care for one’s opinion, hence her inability to feel embarrassed with her body, and her sexual desire relates to someone distant, whom she may never feel the touch of. Adding a deeper meaning to the writing of the scene, the director crowds a great sequence with Eastern European humor, the sarcasm, and a loud reading of each dialogue. It creates a comic tone and the sexual drift that she feels for anyone whose name is not Boban.
Furthermore, the dramatic journey is present in the second chapter, X Publisher, focusing on the partnership between Vera and Stella. In this sense, the two women are intrinsically different. Vera is an empowered woman who speaks of her sexuality freely in the conservative broadcast of Romania, where the other individuals are shocked by her. She is open about her sexual desires and her necessity to achieve her commercial objectives, once she has a sex shop. Yet, Stella cannot openly discuss what she yearns for, and the lack of intimacy in the bedroom prevents her from forming a relationship with someone. Therefore, the second segment has room to discuss the socio-economic reality of Romania, in the context of the disparities and inequalities present in the rural and urban areas. Stella and her family move to a rural house far from Bucharest, the country’s capital. Still, they reflect the imagination of the rural communities of the capital, as a developed place full of opportunities. Stella is the perfect reflection of the opposite; she cannot thrive without the support of a sponsor, someone in the country’s cultural elite. Consequently, her flawed relationship with X, the publisher and owner of a bookstore chain, raises the conflict between authors and owners of the means of production, particularly in a sexual exchange to publish her book.
In the last chapter, Mladenović uses the relationship between Vera and Stella to subvert the character’s trait. Stella is the depressed one who constantly searches for a reason to stay alive. However, the final moments of Sorella di Clausura present a more reflective vision of the lead character. The title refers to a nun’s choir promising to stay silent for the whole year. However, on a day in the year, they sing to an immense audience. As Boban tells Stella, she is similar to that choir. Her inability to socially interact with others hides her beautiful singing, as she uses her talents to observe the world and mock the status quo. In the end, Stella is a silent beast that stays quiet for several reasons, more prominently due to her socio-economic status. Still, the film expands a funny, complex, and fascinating character, wonderfully performed by Katia Pascariu.
Similarly to its central character, Sorella di Clausura improves as we get to understand and sympathize with the sarcastic and complex Stella, a woman obsessed with a singer who uses her fanaticism to forget her miserable life. Although not all of the jokes work, it is a gem that presents a funny and fascinating narrative.
Sorella di Clausura recently played at the Locarno Film Festival.
Learn more about the film at the Locarno site for the title.
You might also like…
