★★★★★ / Aksė Kancerevičiūtė. Understanding memory: review of L. Bareiša’s film “Sisters” | Culture

How can they transform and what specific forms do they take? How to live and survive in the face of loss, abuse and, in general, all that absurdity that starts and happens, and then for a long time stretches behind it like invisible threads of a spider’s web?…

L. Bareiša raises these and similar questions with each new feature film, distinguished by precise, sometimes poetic cinematography, unconventional narrative structure and deceptive external simplicity, which hides not one or two layers of meaning. The gradual reconstruction of a violent event in the debut film “Pilgrims” (2021), which won the Venice Film Festival, gave space for reflection on the indifference, domesticated and analized evil in today’s society.

The sense of danger and threat pervades L. Bareiša’s latest film “Sisters”, which won the Locarno Film Festival. It was not for nothing that he was awarded for the best direction – although the young generation of Lithuanian cinema does not lack courage and intelligence, few would dare to so drastically “explode” (I can’t find a more accurate word) the script, ignore the usual laws of dramaturgy and achieve the desired result.

L. Bareiša seems to be playing with our preconceptions, expectations, and finally, imagining how the plot or characters’ characters should develop.

L. Bareiša seems to be playing with our preconceptions, expectations, and finally, imagining how the plot or characters’ characters should develop. True, at first, in the first part of the film, it seems that one is watching a well-crafted psychological drama unraveling the relationship between two couples. Frame by frame, scene by scene – it gradually becomes clear that not everything is functioning as it should.

Although MMA fighter Lukas (Paulius Markevičius) wins the tournament, his wife Ernesta (Gelmíne Glemžaitė) does not seem happy. She bursts into tears, but after a moment she calms down – as if nothing bad had happened, her husband retaliated with several beatings, in addition, her sister Justė (Agnė Kaktaitė) with her husband Tomas (Giedrius Kiela) and daughter Urte came to congratulate her on the victory. Why not, in front of them and your young son, you will take comfort, talk about problems hidden somewhere deep inside and just gnawing at your heart.

There is no mention of love, whether spiritual or physical, and it is perhaps the only thing that binds two families apart from kinship.

Perhaps a weekend at the family home by the lake, surrounded by nature, will help to forget – this is exactly what both sisters, tired of their egocentric spouses, want most. There is no mention of love, whether spiritual or physical, and it is perhaps the only thing that binds two families apart from kinship.

A scene from the movie “Sisters”

As shopping bags are unloaded from the cars, tension is already in the air, partly due to the behavior of the men competing for dominance. L. Bareiša’s interesting look at stereotypical gender roles, which is evident in the subtext masculine discourse. Physically strong, well-trained, Lukas is outwardly superior to Tom, a typical townie with a pot belly and immature adolescent complexes. On the other hand, the latter is much better equipped materially, – which he is happy to demonstrate – he drives a powerful car, likes luxury things and, in general, knows how to deal with money.

There is a fierce psychological battle between men all the time, as if they want to prove to themselves and the world which of them is “tougher”.

There is a fierce psychological battle between men all the time, as if they want to prove to themselves and the world which of them is “tougher”. “Truly morons” is what the sisters call each other, as if jokingly, when they went to visit an old acquaintance (Aldona Vilutytė) and left them alone to take care of the children and cook dinner.

Situations – as if from our everyday life – are easily recognizable, sometimes even make you smile, but the further you go, the less you want to smile. The men are not even able to smoke cigars calmly, and when it seems that everyone is relaxed enough, Tom offers Luke a boxing match. It is no coincidence that this scene is repeated twice in “Sisters” – it, so to speak, determines further events, when disaster strikes as if out of nowhere, and reality shatters into the smallest fragments of memories.

Around the middle of the film, the “jazz” begins – time jumps back and forth, the tempo undulates unevenly – it “blocks” at intervals, freezes in static, long shots.

Around the middle of the film, the “jazz” begins – time jumps back and forth, the tempo undulates – at intervals it “blocks”, freezes in static, long shots, at intervals it gains momentum again. Important moments from the past are repeated – only the details change, for example, in one time segment, Ernesta and Justė dance to the once popular song “I Love You Always Forever” by Donna Lewis, and in another, Lighthouse’s “Family’s High” is already playing, although the scene itself is identical to the previous one.

Lukas Balandis/BNS photo/Premiere of the movie “Sesės”.

These elements of arthouse cinema help to create a unique perspective, as the director himself called it – “as if you are looking at a memory that is happening here and now”. Using a seemingly chaotic structure, but thought out to the last detail, L. Bareiša (he is also the cinematographer of this film) shows how fragile and subjective memory can be, especially when it is distorted by grief. Fragments scattered in time and space are connected only by an emotional thread – the friendship of sisters Ernesta and Juste, their attempts to understand and survive traumatic events.

These elements of arthouse cinema help to create a unique perspective, as the director himself called it – “as if you are looking at a memory that is happening here and now”.

Although we are forced to guess where one or another character disappeared, and what happened to Urte, eventually everything falls into place. The director offers different options for viewing and interpreting the film – they can be disturbing, but at the same time intriguing. English name of “Sessions” – “Drowning Dry” means “dry drowning”. Dictionaries explain that it is a rare complication of drowning, when a person can no longer breathe due to throat spasms – he suffocates, even though the water does not enter the lungs. This state, like repressed fears, passive aggression, or unspoken feelings, haunts the characters, driving them deeper and deeper into the unknown and darkness.

A word of praise should be given here to the four main actors, awarded for the best acting at the same Locarno Film Festival. Their different, but extremely realistic characters bring dynamism and liveliness – A.Kaktaitė, G.Glemžaitė, G.Kiela and P.Markevičius are so suggestive that they do not allow you to question the reality of the situations and experiences shown in the film.

Lukas Balandis/BNS photo/Auksė Kancerevičiūtė

Only in brief moments of enlightenment do you see what really lies beneath the masks of these modern, beautiful and cold people. Although their existence is shattered, like clay figurines thrown by children, the hope remains in the film that at least something can be saved and put together again.