Tenderness (ej svensk text) (Blu-ray)

Slovak filmmaker Martin Šulík’s striking debut feature is a rich and complex coming-of-age story set against a background of political upheaval and a country in the throws of transformation and revolution. Simon, a young student, is drawn into a relationship with an older couple, Maria and Viktor, the dynamics of which veer between passion and cruelty. Simon finds himself caught in a love/hate triangle he does not fully comprehend, the key to which is linked to the dark secrets of their past. Analysing human relations in the early years of post-communism, Tenderness presents a world still profoundly affected by the moral corruption characteristic of the years of following the Soviet invasion of 1968.