April
Written and directed by Georgian Déa Kulumbegashvili. April stars Ia Sukhitashvili as Nina, an obstetrician living and working in rural Georgia. In her day job, she delivers babies, but in her own time she aids patients seeking abortion and when night falls, she drives the roads in search of sexual partners. With a legal prohibition on abortions, Nina must constantly defend her values and actions from those who become suspicious of what she is doing, when she is accused of negligence and subject to investigation.
April is not a film for the faint-hearted and for better or for worse, it is an all-consuming experience. A majority of the feature is experienced from Nina’s point of view, her breathing audible over the sounds of the environment around her, and the viewer is coerced into living every visceral moment to powerful effect. Long continuous static frames linger before your eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time, sometimes telling a thousand words through imagery and saying nothing at all at others. Most of these scenes feel as though you are being dragged across the floor to some ominous doom, but there are a few beautiful instances of respite and escape when scenic fields of flowers break up the misery and isolation of the oppressive society Nina finds herself in.
Nina’s sexual dysfunction comes as a curious addition to her character, not fully explained as to why she holds herself in such low regard and it is left to us to put together the pieces as to why she appears to act this way. There is also a frequent appearance of what can only be described as a human foetus, just to add a little more fuel to the nightmare.
All of these elements leave an impression, but while the incredibly artistic approach to the narrative may prove successful in some circles, the problem that often arises is that large portions of the audience are left alienated by the film’s abstract nature. This movie unsettlingly rocks you beyond belief, before changing tracks and trying to lull you to sleep. Moments that verge on painfully dull are countered by scenes of extreme stress and anxiety, and at times is difficult to fully comprehend what Kulumbegashvili is trying to achieve.
April isn’t any sort of anti-abortion protest movie, but simply uses the misogynistic societal views and opinions of Nina’s community to drive the story forward in whatever way it can. The film had its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, where it instantly found success by winning the Special Jury Prize. However, it may find it a little bit harder to win over the general public.
Guy Lambert
April is released in select cinemas on 25th April 2025.
Watch a clip from April here:
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