An extremely moving narrative, between historical depiction of Soviet Poland and touching familial retelling

Early 1950s in Soviet Poland. Stanislav and Zosia live in the village of Zatonie, west of the country. He is a mason, she is a librarian in the nearby town, and they have a young child. Zosia spends long hours queuing at the village grocery store, often empty. Times are tough, but the couple is united. A daughter is born, Stanislas undertakes to build a house for the small family... To avoid boredom and her difficult daily life, Zosia writes to her sister who lives in Paris and fantasizes about spending a holiday there, something impossible at the time.

One day in the summer of 1960, Zosia’s life is disrupted by Stanislav’s death in a construction accident. Helpless, she falls under the control of the director of the library where she works, who is also a former member of the Polish secret service. Through him, she hopes to obtain the precious passport that will allow her to join her sister in France. But this despising and violent man will transform the already morose life of Zosia into a real living hell.

In this powerful story inspired by his grandmother’s life, Lukasz Wojciechowski, after Dum Dum (Selection Angoulême 2024), keeps on exploring both the history of Eastern Europe and his family’s.