Review by
Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Teona Strugar Mitevska
Starring: Zorica
Nusheva, Labina Mitevska, Simeon Moni Damevski, Suad Begovski, Stefan Vujisic, Violeta Shapkovska
Although on paper North Macedonia is committed to gender equality (via the
Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women in
1994- CEDAW), statistical evidence tells a different story. Governmental
positions held by women are dependent on electoral quotas and women are
largely underrepresented in executive and decision-making positions (all
of this from eca.unwomen.org). What is more damning is that nearly half
the female population of North Macedonia have experienced domestic
violence at the hands of an intimate partner: suggesting that the hopeful
ideologies of the CEDAW remain far removed from the common day patriarchy
of the country, where the indications are that women have a second-class
citizen lack of status.
This is certainly the case in Teona Strugar Mitevska’s (with script
support from Elma Tataragic)
God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya, which sees the titular character repressed by the deeply conservative
society of small-town North Macedonia. Petrunya (Zorica Nusheva -
fantastic) is overqualified and unemployed, she lives with her parents,
and her mother barely disguises her frustration at Petrunya’s unmarried
status (a circumstance which the film implies is partly due to Petrunya
not conforming to the sort of limited hegemony her basic-bloke peers
respond to, but mainly due to the grown woman being stubbornly, and
rightfully, self-sufficient). Petrunya’s aunty gets her an interview for
some so-so admin job, wherein the male interviewer, this balding piece of
shit in a cheap AF suit, makes sexual advances towards Petrunya before
humiliating her. Why? Simply because he, and other men like him, can,
Mitevska implies.
So, it’s no wonder that the obstinate and proud Petrunya DGAF when she is
party to an annual pseudo-religious steeplechase wherein the church throws
a crucifix into the river for the local men to scramble and retrieve for
kudos (in fairness, it does sound amazing). Mitevska frames this event
with pointed symbolism. On the bridge above are the patriarchal denizens
of the church, chanting and burning incense in their heavy robes. Below
are the aggressively braying working-class men of the village, jostling
for status with their tops off, and completely unspiritual. In-between,
pushed to the side is our heroine, watching the unedifying spectacle with
a jaundiced eye. She jumps into the water herself and only goes and grabs
the cross!
This causes all manner of shit, a conflict which dominates the rest of the
film. It’s a delicious irony how ecclesiastical law states that the person
who retrieves the cross is the winner, yet tradition dictates that only
men can partake in this competition: two ridiculous decrees contradicting
each other’s silliness. Soon after local news announces that competition
winner Petrunya ‘is on the loose’, she is arrested, the men riot, and the
higher echelons of the Macedonian Orthodox Church are canvassed. It would
be funny, if not for the fact that, in contrast to the knockabout tones of
the first act, Mitevska’s film takes a darker turn when (just like Someone
Else who we may associate with a cross, eh?) Petrunya is persecuted and
vilified. At the halfway mark,
God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya becomes a Kafkaesque
scenario of repetitive, crushing absurdity. For some audiences, perhaps
the tonal shift may not make good on the sprightly, colourful tones of the
first act, but for the real life Petrunyas anything less than this
nightmare representation would be wholly disingenuous.
God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya is in
US cinemas and virtual cinemas now. A UK/ROI release has yet to be
announced.
