Synopsis
In Stip, a small town in Macedonia, every January the local priest throws a wooden cross into the river and hundreds of men dive after it. Good fortune and prosperity are guaranteed to the man who retrieves it. This time, Petrunya dives into the water on a whim and manages to grab the cross before the others. Her competitors are furious - how dare a woman take part in their ritual? All hell breaks loose, but Petrunya holds her ground. She won her cross and will not give it up.
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Cast
- Zorica NushevaPetrunija
- Labina MitevskaJournalist Slavica
- Stefan VujisićYounger Officer Darko
- Simeon 'Moni' DamevskiChief Inspector Milan
- Suad BegovskiThe Priest
- Violeta ŠapkovskaVaska
- Xhevdet JashariTV Cameraman Boykan
- Andrijana KolevskaBlagica
- Petar MirčevskiStoyan
- Nikola KumevOlder Officer Vasko
Recommendations
- 80
Screen Daily
Petrunya is careful to maintain the ideal balance, parodying the ridiculous response to its protagonist but never downplaying its realism. - 60
CineVue
With God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya, Mitevska has fashioned yet another bleak satire about Hegemonic masculinity in the Balkans. - 60
Variety
God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya positions itself as a feminist cry against a patriarchal Macedonia in the grips of bullying machismo and hidebound religion, yet the genial rushed ending undercuts its gender-equality thrust by presenting Petrunya’s emotional savior as a mustachioed guy in uniform. - 60
The New York Times
The standoff with authorities dawdles and languishes, and a side plot with a TV journalist (Labina Mitevska) feels one-note. Still, we should all look forward to seeing what Petrunya does next. - 40
The Guardian
What begins as a sprightly, shrewd, visually striking satire from Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska deflates in its second act into something unconvincing, sophomoric and dramatically redundant. - 40
The Hollywood Reporter
There's no mistaking the earnest anger which motivates her assault on the sexist "dark ages" values still to be found in many Macedonian provincial areas, but expressing it in such clunky terms does no service to the cause.
