Dir: Ivana Mladenovic | Cast: Katia Pascariu, Cendana Trifan, Miodrag Mladenovic | Romania, Serbia, Italy, Spain – 2025 – 103′ – Romanian, Serbian, English
Weird and wacky humour is the draw in this droll but tragic social and political satire that lampoons hero worship and the cult of celebrity in small town Romania.
Sorella di Clausura, literally meaning “Cloistered Sister” is a sophomore feature for the Serbian-born Ivana Mladenović who rose to the international stage with her startling debut Ivana the Terrible
Here against the backdrop of Romania’s economic peeks and troughs she charts the often tawdry experiences of another ‘heroine’, the hapless Stela Popovic, 36, a well-educated but nevertheless daft woman whose inability to hold down a job sees her fall on hard times.
Romantically-speaking Stela fares no better: her focus in life is an obsession with an ageing Serbian singer from the former Yugoslavia called Boban whom she has never met but who styles himself “the God of poor people and Romas” on account of his musical output.
Stela’s salvation beckons in the shape of Vera, a minor star who claims to be one of Boban’s lovers. Vera not only offers Stela the chance to meet her hero, but also to earn an income stream from her business selling dildos and lubricants thus saving her from the breadline.
But neither lifelines transpire: this is sadly no ‘rags to riches story’. When Vera’s company goes bust Stela finds herself reduced to working as a cleaner in Vera’s house in the middle of nowhere.
One saving grace for Stela is finding a publisher willing to send the money to bring her manuscript to Bucharest. An offbeat relationship develops with this odd man whose favourite author is Henry Millar and who says things like ‘Sex is for showing off. Wanking is for pleasure’. Naturally due to Stela’s low emotional intelligence and sheer desperation the two end up in bed this far from the answer to Stela’s prayers
There are some good ideas in this rather rambling feature and some strong performances particularly from Katia Pascariu in the lead role as a decent soul who can’t seem to do right for doing wrong. @MeredithTaylor
WORLD PREMIERE AT LOCARNO FILM FESTIVAL 2025