Virdžina . Virgina
Set in an isolated mountain village above the Adriatic at the end of the 19th century, the film brilliantly portrays strange gender relations emerging as a result of the extreme patriarchal culture. According to the traditional superstition, firmly held in the village, families without male descende...
| Other Authors: | |
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| Institution: | Open Society Archives at Central European University |
| Language: | Serbo-Croatian |
| Published: |
Centar Film Beograd
1991
Yugoslavia |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10891/osa:fd12ade1-5cf5-4daa-a0af-c428fce4cee7 |
| Summary: | Set in an isolated mountain village above the Adriatic at the end of the 19th century, the film brilliantly portrays strange gender relations emerging as a result of the extreme patriarchal culture. According to the traditional superstition, firmly held in the village, families without male descendents are thought to be cursed and doomed to disaster. When the wife of a farmer gives birth to their fourth daughter, the father immediately decides that the child will become a so-called “Virgina”. She will be brought up and live her whole life as if she was a male, in order to work and become the family’s heir. Accordingly, the family announces the birth of their son, keeping the truth as a dark family secret. Forced since birth to hide her genuine female nature, Virgina begins to rebel against her destiny when she falls in love with her village friend. Her father, however, passionately continues with the lie and eventually starts believing that he has a real son. With the help of her village friend, to whom she reveals her secret, and much more his father, who turns out to be a “Virgina” himself, she manages to escape from her former life and departs for America. |
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| Published: | 1991 |