A journalist lives his smooth citizen life, married to a woman from respected family. But, conflicts with manager at work are becoming more often, his marriage is unstable and the outer manifestation of all this is a strange skin disease. Doctors recommend resting in nature and self-examination. In the mountains, in a lonely house near the lake, he meets a woman, also unadjusted and lonely. The consequences of this encounter are beneficial. Capable to love again, he gets his moral strength, and disease retreats. He breaks off his contacts with his wife's family and with "petit bourgeois" of his former life, confronts his boss and wins, realizing that this is only a first victory which has straightened him up.
Acting
Berček's physical deterioration mirrors spiritual awakening—subtle, unsettling.
Cinematography
Mountain isolation as character, not backdrop.
Writing
Disease-as-metaphor without collapsing into pure allegory.
Director
Miloš 'Miša' Radivojević
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Yugoslavia's 'Black Wave' aftermath—radical individualism vs. socialist conformity, disguised as domestic drama.
Radivojević uses the skin disease to literalize what other films leave metaphorical—the body as battleground for ideological sickness.
YU
