13/03/2025 - Alex Burunova directs a visually rich psychological drama with a fuzzy narrative but an important central story about dangerous patriarchal relationship dynamics

Los Angeles-based writer-director Alex Burunova has celebrated the world premiere of her feature debut Satisfaction in SXSW’s Narrative Spotlight section – a film that picks at the ways in which we are deluded into seeing the best in others, even in the most terrible of circumstances. In Satisfaction, we learn of a relationship between young British composers Lola (Emma Laird, The Brutalist [+see also:
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An abrasive, bone-chilling mid-film scene completely re-contextualises the nature of Lola and Philip’s relationship as we learn about the young duo’s coming together as well as the reason behind their uncoupling. With a slicked-back mullet that few others could pull off, past Lola is a charming and confident master’s student, fresh out of a breakup and finding emotional solace in Philip, despite only having been in relationships with women. Present-day Lola, in comparison, seems closed-off and far away; both versions of the protagonist are made convincing by a strong, gripping performance from Laird.

From the start, the film is showered in cool blue and grey tones, setting the scene for the dark drama to come. A dramatic and haunting instrumentally diverse score by Midori Hirano adds increasing amounts of tension, and was created in collaboration with sound designer Javier Umpierrez (La Cocina), who contributes an amalgam of non-melodic, unconventional sonic elements that also work their way into the score. The soundscape is reminiscent in some ways of the presence of music in a recent film such as Conclave [+see also:
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film profile], where audiences are meant to feel overwhelmed by the auditory landscape. Satisfaction thus emerges as an aesthetics-heavy film that relies on viewers to read between the lines as a way to foreshadow the rest, but Burunova also uses symbolic moments to convey connection and dread that often feel oversimplified rather than letting us sit more existentially with Lola and her plight.

With Budapest-born DoP Máté Herbai, Burunova puts together a visually intriguing work that clearly shows her potential as a director in terms of bold vision and style. However, the emphasis of Satisfaction at times feels too focused on finding a way to demonstrate showmanship over emotional appeal – rather than diving further into the powerful connection between Elena and Lola, for instance – leading to missing pieces in the greater jigsaw puzzle. Its outcome is not completely satisfying, but viewers might still enjoy the thriller-cum-psychological drama that awaits them and the admirable attempt at championing the strength of women in devastating circumstances.

Satisfaction is a US-Ukrainian-Greek-Italian production by Burunova's Perfect Circle Films (US), Driven Equation (US) and Carte Blanche (US), in co-production with Constant Production (Ukraine), Kristi Films International (Greece) and Frame by Frame (Italy) and in partnership with Set Point Entertainment (US), Paper Anvil (US) and Simbelle Productions (US).