It's not unheard of for suppressed emotions to undermine the apparent harmony of a wedding ceremony. In this psychological thriller it's an episode from the Second World War which sees the newlyweds' special day transformed into a nightmare; having stumbled across skeletal remains in the garden, the groom unwillingly revives memories of a Jewish village that once stood here only to have seemingly vanished into thin air.
She is the daughter of a local entrepreneur and village head, he's a successful businessman from London, and for both of them it was love at first click, so to speak. In the evening the whole village is invited to the homestead intended to serve as Piotr and Żaneta's future home. On the eve of the party Piotr stumbles across a hastily buried body in the garden, the existence of which none of the natives are willing to acknowledge. During the wedding party the groom is unable to relax, harassed time and again by the vision of a young woman in white. When this image takes complete possession of him, he takes flight to the cellar, stammering words of Yiddish on the way... As it turns out there was once a Jewish settlement here, and a girl who was due to marry only to suddenly disappear, just like the village as a whole. Żaneta's father attempts to suppress his utterances, as well as the truth.
A classic genre film complemented by elements of the cathartic wedding ceremony, a subject matter of Polish film with a long tradition, which deals with how suppressed history can come back to take revenge on our collective soul. The film's exceptionally talented director Marcin Wrona tragically passed away.
This film will also be shown on Thur, 08.06.2023, 6:30 pm at Europa-Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt Oder.