Monkeys in Winter

Director Andonova’s first feature tells the stories of three Bulgarian women from different generations: a Roma single mother struggling to raise her family despite the privations of rural life in the 1960s; a law student in the early ’80s whose pregnancy with a fellow classmate ruins her plan to flee to the West with her French suitor; and a young woman in 2001 whose loving marriage to a business man is threatened by the couple’s fertility problems. Andonova’s elliptical portrait of motherhood over the past 40 years teases connections between her three vignettes to create a melancholy mood piece, tinged with moments of tenderness and low-key humour. Slow-burning and perhaps too artfully restrained to fully emotionally engage, it’s still a promising debut.