SWORN VIRGIN

Albania/Italy, 2015, 90 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Laura Bispuri.

It is not usual to see a film from Albania. This one opens in the mountains of that country but spends a great deal of its action time in Italy.

The sworn virgin of the title is the second daughter of a strong mountain man who seems to have wanted a son. There are flashbacks to the life of the two little girls together but, it soon emerges, that one of them has migrated to Italy. The younger daughter, Hanah, makes a decision that she would live as a man, Mark, with her father presiding over a ritual ceremony, cutting her plaits, and declaring that she is his son. When he dies, accompanied by a vivid ritual with the fellow men of the village, she decides to migrate to Italy, arriving at her sister’s house, partly welcomed, not liked by her niece, but eventually accepted. She explains that she is Mark and conducts herself as a man. Her brother-in-law finds her an apartment, she makes friends with her niece who is involved in synchronised swimming, and reconciles with her sister. She is also attracted by the man who looks after the pool. At the end of the process, she decides that she would like to live as a woman, returning to the identity of Hanah.

This theme would be interesting in a film from many cultures, but is especially of interest is being treated by Albanian filmmakers.

1. Albanian film, issues, characters? The contrast with life in Italy?

2. The Albanian mountain locations, rugged, at work, details of life, the village, families? The visit to the sea? The musical score?

3. Italy, the city, apartments, workplaces, clubs, the swimming pool?

4. The title, the focus on Hanah, her becoming Mark? Her father?

5. The structure: Hanah and her leaving, down from the mountains, the boat, the Italian city, the sister’s apartment? The insertion of the flashbacks? The two little girls, their mother, the father, the experiences and their sharing?

6. The father, his wanting a son, Hanah becoming the son, the ceremony, her being declared his son, the ritual, the cutting of the hair, her work? The relationship with her mother? The father’s death, the men’s ritual at his death? Leaving, her mother’s letter, later reading it with her sister?

7. Gender issues, her virginity, sexuality, the repression of the feminine, the binding of her breasts, as Mark, travelling, meeting Lila, the family and their acceptance of her, her life in the city, the work, the husband giving her apartment?

8. Lila, the tense relationship, the years of absence? The family, the daughter and her moodiness at first? The room? The new apartment, exhilaration?
Her back and the sores? Helping the daughter, the swimming, the bond?

9. The pool, the attraction of the guard, the sexual encounter, the future? Her becoming a woman again?

10. The letter, the bonding of the two sisters, their memories, building a future?