Woman Of...

With her enigmatically titled Woman Of… (Kobieta z..), Malgorzata Szumowska returns from the magical satire of Never Gonna Snow Again to trenchant social realism, recounting a journey lasting half a lifetime, of sacrifice, sorrow and resilience.

Written and directed in collaboration with regular cinematographer and creative partner Michal Englert, this is a rare close-up of an older trans woman making tough choices in a majority Catholic country that remains legislatively and socially hostile. The film’s compassionate gaze and stirring performances make it an illuminating window into gender recognition in an unaccommodating environment. [--]

Szumowska and Englert know better than to tie things up too neatly given the continuing absence of laws on gender recognition in Poland. But the tenderness and sensitivity of their concluding scenes resonate to make this an affecting portrait of hope and hard-won self-knowledge that could even help move the needle on LGBTQ rights in one of the European Union’s most stubbornly intolerant member states.

David Rooney / The Hollywood Reporter