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Poland, United States · 2017
1h 44m
Director Magdalena Zyzak, Zachary Cotler
Starring Lena Olin, Nathan Keyes, Alexander Koch, Chris Voss
Genre Drama
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An internationally respected poet announces she is going to kill herself and needs an heir and executor. Young writers drive up the mountain to compete for the position and are challenged intellectually, emotionally, and erotically.
The main issue is that the story, while reasonably interesting, is not as interesting as the setup would like you to imagine, and that in such a context, Lena Olin is way too powerful for it. She not only overwhelms her young executor-suitors but the entire movie.
Olin, at turns daringly open and frustratingly restrained, makes Maya entirely her own, the focal point and reason for the film itself.
The Hollywood Reporter by Keith Uhlich
Olin never wavers in her commitment. She's often extraordinary in individual moments.
Village Voice by Serena Donadoni
Is Maya Dardel serious? The regal Lena Olin plays her with frank ferocity and arrogant certainty, but so much about the grandiose poet borders on parody.
RogerEbert.com by Sheila O'Malley
Where Maya Dardel really works is when it sticks to being a character study.
Los Angeles Times by Sheri Linden
Olin could not be more commanding. It's a powerful performance in the service of a movie that's by turns off-putting, bracingly incisive and insufferable.
The New York Times by Teo Bugbee
For all the linguistic gymnastics, the film is hamstrung by its directors’ lack of visual imagination.
Screen International by Tim Grierson
The proceedings are often stifling, but not without their prickly pleasures.