I LOVED THIS FILM!!
I live in Canada and I watched "I Am Fine, Thanks" as part of my city's annual Baltic/Nordic film festival. I think there's a bond among us northerners, we persevere despite the lack of warmth and light.
I can find Lithuania on a map, but that's everything I know about the place. When the Lithuanian cultural attaché introduced "I Am Fine, Thanks" last night, I wasn't even certain it would look like a professional film, then it proceeded to blow me away.
Beautifully shot and acted, with some terrifying scenes that made my pulse race, it finished with a strong takeaway life lesson. I've already told many friends about it, but where could they possibly see it except at a film festival?
For me, this film preached the value of women maintaining strong, supportive friendships with other women. Too often, we invest in being daughters, wives and mothers, relationships that drain us rather than sustain us. Instead of her burdensome family and brutish boyfriend, if Maria had a close group of lady friends, people who knew how much she valued her work as a scientist, people she could drink some wine with and rant a bit, she would have been happy and contented rather than anxious and self doubting.
Even the IMDB summary gets it wrong:
"A charismatic neuroscientist, Maria returns home after two months of treatment for anxiety and panic attacks. However, Maria's come back is not without bumps in the road. Her study colleague removes her from the research she has been working on for many years, her mother is in the hospital and her fiancé is pressuring her to finally start planning their own family."
No one is pressuring Maria to start planning a family! She's a scientist, happily dedicated to serving humanity through science, but the assumption is that unless a woman has a baby, she can't possibly be fulfilled or happy. What bunk! Angela Merkel would obviously disagree.
Ladies, cultivate your female friends and remake the world. I plan to find this director's previous work. See this film if you have the chance.
Greer.
