In this Romanian documentary we follow the life of Alice, her husband Dorian and their child Aristo.
Alice married Dorian aged 53 at 18 years of age due to her pregnancy. Alice has had a traumatic and unloved existence abandoned by her parents and raised by a tyrant grandmother blocking all parental access to Alice and beating her at any mention of her parents. The relationship with Dorian did not last long as they fought like cat and dogs. Alice departs to other parts of Europe leaving Aristo behind and supporting Dorian and Aristo by revenue from her “pornification” chat room. Dorian is a struggling artist relying on Alice’s porno revenue to support himself and Aristo.
Alice has some talent as an artist but due to her support obligations and her drug habit her dream of attending a fine arts university programme is an impossibility. Her frustration augments as does her bizarre appearance with coloured hair, missing teeth and dotted tattoos on her face.
Eventually she goes missing seen later by police buying junk and living in a slovenly Bucharest ghetto and by “slovenly” that may be an understatement.
Director Isabel Tent filmed this documentary over 10 years very successfully showing how traumatized persons deal with a painful past. Should you have sympathy for Alice? Or is her trauma simply an excuse for her dereliction of duty as a mother. She obviously failed to learn from her own past and turned that against her son or is it but an excuse for her decadence.
My sympathy is for her child Aristo. My scorn is for Alice. Compassion only runs so deep for a selfish and destructive personality looking for an excuse to squander her own life and that of her child.
You can see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/939018909/0ca96c6b18?share=copy
Expect to see this doc in documentary festivals.
RKS Film Rating: 82/100.
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