Perla (2025)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 108 minuten
Country:
Austria / Slovakia
Directed by: Alexandra Makarová
Stars: Rebeka Poláková, Simon Schwarz and Noël Czuczor
IMDb score:
6,9 (293)
Releasedate: 2 February 2025
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Perla plot
Artist and single mother Perla built a new life in Vienna in the early 1980s with her daughter and her partner, the Tibetologist Josef. As an exile, she tried to forget the misery of her childhood in communist Czechoslovakia, but when Julia's father, Andrej, unexpectedly calls her to tell her that he is seriously ill, Perla returns to her homeland. Torn between the past and the present, she makes rash decisions that put her relationship with Julia under pressure.
Actors and actresses
Perla
Josef
Julia
Andrej
Claudia
Kovácová
Julius
Lenka
Vojtech
Receptionist
Reviews & comments
mrklm
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- 12423 messages
- 10491 votes
Claudia [Hilde Dalik] was pregnant when she left Andre [Noel Czuczor] behind in Czechoslovakia to build a life in Austria. More than ten years later, she has a stable relationship with Josef [Simon Schwartz] under the false name Petra Hoffmann and her daughter Claudia [Hilde Dalik] is a talented pianist. The peace is broken by a phone call from Andrej who reports that he has been released after a period of imprisonment and that he wants to see his daughter. Perla is only persuaded to return to her native country when Andrej confides that he is terminally ill. It is the mid-1980s, so that return is fraught with danger. Makarová does not make it sufficiently clear why Perla is prepared to risk her own safety and that of her daughter for a man with whom she has consciously avoided contact for years. This shortcoming makes it difficult to empathize with the consequences of that choice and with the development of the triangular relationship between Perla, Josef and Andrej.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Drulko Vlaschjan
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- 510 messages
- 443 votes
In itself a fine film, although I don't think I will remember it for long. In fact, I saw it a week ago and I can hardly remember anything about it now. It all looked good and I was really there, in Czechoslovakia in 1981. At least, I wasn't there then, I wasn't even alive, but it seemed very authentic to me.
Towards the end we are presented with a rather intense, almost hallucinatory scene that broke with the realism and worked very well. There are more beautiful, oppressive scenes, for example the flashback about the failed flight to the West (as I write this the film slowly comes back).
But as mrklm says, it's hard to imagine Perla taking such big risks. Maybe it has something to do with her trauma, or it's just a bad choice by the filmmakers.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Hannibal
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- 9409 messages
- 3338 votes
With a little more background on Slovakia's communist regime, everything that happens would have become clearer, from the bizarre tradition of publicly dousing women to the reason why Perla was arrested, but I wasn't too bothered by the lack of information. Not everything needs to be explained away. The fact that Perla doesn't always make smart choices can be frustrating for the viewer, but it's also realistic. Perla is also a human being and makes bad choices. I found it all quite moving, and the acting was good. The daughter in the story was very endearing and convincing.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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