Synopsis
Dreaming of the West, Boryana is determined not to have a child in communist Bulgaria. Nonetheless, her daughter Viktoria enters the world in 1979, curiously missing a belly button, and is declared the country’s Baby of the Decade. Pampered by her mother state until the age of nine, Viktoria’s decade of notoriety comes crashing down with the rest of European communism. But can political collapse and the hardship of new times finally bring Viktoria and her reluctant mother closer together
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Cast
- Irmena ChichikovaBoryana
- Daria VitkovaViktoria (2nd age)
- Kalina VitkovaViktoria (3rd age)
- Mariana KrumovaDima
- Dimo DimovIvan
- Georgi SpasovTodor Zhivkov
- Anastasia Ingilizova
- Svetoslav DraganovSando
- Simeon TsolovStefcho (2nd age)
- Ivo KaramanskiStefcho (3rd age)
Recommendations
- 83
The Film Stage
Viktoria occasionally bites off more than it can handle, but even as it threatens to become unwieldy, it always feels essential. - 75
Boston Globe
Vitkova brings a distinct gender sensibility to her story, especially with her recurring imagery of milk and blood. - 60
Village Voice
Bulgarian filmmaker Maya Vitkova's feature debut, Viktoria, is an impressive display of stylistic control and directorial vision, even if it doesn't always hold together. - 60
Los Angeles Times
While the intended dramatic payoff proves a letdown, it doesn’t undo the allegorical power of the movie’s searing depiction of groupthink and its fallout. - 50
The New York Times
As more and more perfect shots drift by, the reality of the characters and their relationships dissipates, and we’re left with just picturesque moods. - 50
Slant Magazine
The film is ultimately stultifying because the disconnection between the various characters is so immediately accepted as such a foregone conclusion that nothing ever seems to be at stake, and the heavily horizontal imagery, though accomplished and evocative, if fussy, only evokes two states of mind: loneliness and disconnection. - 42
Christian Science Monitor
Vitkova’s direction is big on long lingering shots of dreariness. With a 2-1/2-hour running time, that’s a lot of dreariness.
