Fugue
What’s the story?: A woman returns home with no memory of her husband or child after a mental break. As she attempts to reacclimate to her life, she starts to wonder if this is the life she wants to lead now.
In 2016, Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska’s horror/fairy-tale musical The Lure enchanted audiences. Two years later, Smoczynska returns with a psychological story about a woman trying to figure out whether matrimony and motherhood are right for her. Compared to Family, a similar tale of a woman grappling with domesticity, Fugue is all about changing one’s mind after the husband and child have already been gained. Oftentimes, movies about mother’s leaving, or even contemplating the fact, are presented from the male point-of-view (looking at you, Kramer vs. Kramer), leaving little room for sympathy for the woman. I’m all for a movie that genuinely looks at a woman questioning whether she should just leave it all behind. There’s no doubt that Smoczynska will delve deep into the mind of a woman in conflict that takes many an unexpected turn, albeit in a completely crazy way. There’s no doubt that this will be a complete 360 from The Lure, but in Smoczynska we trust.