Women Do Cry follows an ensemble of women in Bulgaria. Each member faces different issues regarding their gender and/or sexuality. Their stories give insight into the many hardships Bulgarian woman go through, as a conservative society traps them, causing feelings of loneliness, guilt, and internalized misogyny within them.
Directed by: Mina Meleva, Vasela Kazakova
Year: 2021
Country: Bulgaria, France
Length: 107 minutes
The starring roles of the film are portrayed by actresses Maria Bakalova and Ralitsa Stoyanova. Actress Bakalova (who you might recognize from her performance in the film Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, which got her nominated for an Oscar) plays Sonja, a young woman who has just found out she has contracted HIV from her cheating boyfriend. Sonja has trouble accepting this and rejects all treatment. She tries to seek solace in religion, finding God, and washing away her ‘sins’. Yet this will only harm the woman’s sense of self-worth. Sonja’s sister Lora (played by Stoyanova) is worried by this decision and finds herself in a troublesome situation, as she sees Sonja’s mental state rapidly deteriorate. Afraid of losing her sister, she tries to convince her to seek help.
Besides this central plot, we meet several other women, struggling with their own problems. There’s Yoana (played by Vesela Kazakova, who also co-wrote and -directed the film), who struggles with gender identity. There’s also Veronica (Bilyana Kazakova), who struggles to raise her newborn baby all by herself, and finally there’s Anna (Katia Kazakova), who’s affected by trauma, from having seen her father abuse her mother when she was a child. Together, these women must throw throw up one’s hands to survive in the close-minded and patriarchal society they live in and create a safe environment for each other.
Each actress brings their a-game by bringing life into these very different characters. Bakalova, the standout of the film, delivers an emotional and tense portrayal of a deeply affected woman, struggling through a mental breakdown, whereas Stoyanova delivers a very nuanced performance as a woman who’s been hardened by the hyper-masculine society she’s grown up in and has to open up in order to build up the bond between her and her sister.
In less than two hours, directors Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva shed a great amount of light on the current situation in Bulgaria. A country that’s rapidly being influenced by Western modernity, but also a country where a great part of its citizens keeps holding onto tradition and don’t want to hear anything that crosses the borders of what they are familiar with. It’s hard growing up as a woman in a country where the word ‘gender’ is not recognized and has even been used as a slur. Through an authentically female gaze, the lives of women who not only endure, but strive to make their society bearable and accepting, are portrayed.
Women Do Cry premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard competition.
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