06/02/2025 - Lithuanian director Šarūnas Bartas unravels the tensely wound dynamics of a rural family through the return of a young woman for her grandmother’s final days

Depictions of rural and so-called “provincial” life have shone this year in IFFR’s Big Screen Competition, and that includes the newest film by one of Lithuania’s most renowned and prolific directors, Šarūnas Bartas. Known for his many Cannes selections (among them the dialogue-free Few of Us, The House, Peace to Us in our Dreams [+see also:
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Simona (Neringa Puidokaitė) returns to her family’s village in the knowledge that her beloved maternal grandmother, who took care of her growing up, is dying. With her jet-black hair and half-wispy, half-raspy voice, the young woman wears a pained expression on her face as soon as she enters the family home. But soon, we learn not to fault her for this glumness: her stepfather (Rolandas Junevičius) sexually harasses her, and her mother (Rima Paškauskaitė) is an alcoholic, and she maintains an extremely hostile relationship with both of them. Bartas puts together an accomplished group of actors for this ensemble cast, many of whom are making their feature debuts.

With art direction by Sabīne Strauberga and Jānis Kalniņš, the production design choices are bathed in earthy tones that lend a drab feeling to the family environment, starting with the natural colours of the landscape. Many of the conversations even take on a dryly humorous tone as Simona hears them make excuse after petty excuse and throw insult after petty insult; viewers will undoubtedly find echoes of their own familial dramas, with that of Simona’s family as relatable as any other.

With lensing by Lukas Karalius, Bartas often stays intensely close to his subjects during two-person conversations, framing their faces in close-up to accomplish a feeling of gritty social realism and fixating on the smallest of reactions from each character. At other times, he zooms out entirely, leaving the still camera to keep an eye on long, argumentative passages – which, brilliantly, never drift into melodramatic territory. But two striking scenes see Simona’s steely exterior fracture with emotion – once when she comforts her younger brother, and then an intense late moment when her pent-up sadness and frustration come out in heaving sobs. These two pauses are more than enough to cut through the layers of subtextual dialogue without forcing the characters into full-on scream-offs.

The full 90-minute familial episode ends just as fast as it begins, with Simona unceremoniously disentangling herself from the mess and returning to the bus stop to leave. This is the clarity with which Bartas makes his case for simply observing and seeking to understand, rather than making a judgement call, firming up the filmmaker’s straight-to-the-point depiction of rural family never as socially inferior, but simply as fact.

Back to the Family is a production by Lithuania’s Studija Kinema and France’s KinoElektron, in co-production with Poland’s Message Film, Latvia’s Mistrus Media and Poland’s CineLine EDelivery. KinoElektron also holds the rights to the film’s world sales.