Covering a temporal span of forty-five years, the film follows the story (partly a real story) of Adam. Adam lives in a small Polish town, and does his best to be a good husband and a good father, even though his heart harbours contrasting feelings. Adam feels unease in his male body. He feels he doesn’t belong in it, and it cannot allow him to express his identity.
Polish directorial duo Szumowska-Englert shows a story of a trans woman who, adult and already married, decides to transition in one of Europe’s most transphobic countries after spending a lifetime fighting bureaucracy and small-mindedness. This is not a politically militant film, but a drama on familial relationship and on identities that had been concealed for years. Two people love each other and only want to grow into themselves. In the modern world, in the middle of Europe, this sounds easy enough, but reality will teach us that there’s always a price to pay.