Weekend films

'This is me', an intense drama about finding one's place in the world

New releases include the new feature film by Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert, presented at the Venice Film Festival 2023

29 May 2025

3' min read

This is me', an intense Polish feature film that was presented in competition at the Venice Film Festival two years ago, finally arrives in our cinemas.

Directed by Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert, the film traces forty-five years in the life of Aniela Wesoly, recounting her journey in search of freedom as a woman, despite the fact that she was a boy at the time of her birth with the name Andrzej. The protagonist has to face innumerable difficulties to achieve her affirmation as a person, being faced with painful and important choices that also affect her family.

Opening with an incipit that recalls the character's childhood, 'This is me' then focuses on the beginning of adulthood, describing the 1980s and her marriage, to arrive at the New Millennium and the choice of wanting to intervene on her body in order to finally feel herself.

Closing in 2023, with a strong political message towards the complex Polish situation regarding the subject matter, this film with which Malgorzata Szumowska continues her ruthless reflection on her native country.

“Questa sono io” e gli altri film della settimana
Photogallery4 foto

The author had already shown good talent with 2013's 'In the Name of...', 2018's 'Another Life - Mug' and 2020's 'The Snow Will Never Fall Again' (the latter the first co-directed with Michal Englert), but we could perhaps call 'Woman of...' the film of her definitive maturity.

Individual history and collective history

As told by the two authors, the film is the fruit of many years of work and numerous meetings with transgender people of all ages, who have lived in Poland for many years and have chosen to share their stories.

Perhaps also for this reason, 'This is me' is also a film about Polish history of the last 45 years, making Aniela a powerful metaphor in this sense, despite some too many schematics: individual history and collective history are thus mixed in this film in which the filmmakers point the finger at the current reluctance of their society to accept situations that in other parts of the world have long since become social norms.

Although there are a few lapses and a few somewhat contrived passages in the 132-minute running time, on the whole the film succeeds in delivering its message in an incisive manner, including several particularly touching sequences.

Special mention must go to the excellent cinematography, capable of playing effectively with light and shadow, and to the great performance of actress Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik.

The Last Queen - Firebrand

Among the week's new releases, Karim Aïnouz's 'The Last Direction - Firebrand' is rather disappointing.

At the centre of the film is Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth and last wife and the only one to die after him. Appointed regent during her husband's military campaigns, she will try to influence the king's court with her ideas, but will have to face a series of plots and intrigues that are not easy to manage.

A female rewrite of the famous historical event, 'The Last Queen - Firebrand' is a costume film that fails to shake as it should.

The style is too monotonous to be engaging, and there is not the shadow of an artistic flourish to be remembered: one soon realises that the film is a fairly well-executed mise-en-scène that lacks any real cinematic breath of note.

The portrayal of Henry VIII, very well played by Jude Law, is saved, while Alicia Vikander as the protagonist is definitely out of place.

In his first try with an English-language production, the Brazilian director seems rather bewildered, which is a pity, given how much he had moved and excited us with his previous 'The Invisible Life of Eurydice Gusmão'.