Film Review: My Wonderful Wanda
My Wonderful Wanda, Starring Agnieszka Grochowska - Wanda, © Aliocha Merker Zodiac Pictures Ltd 2020
As the pandemic drags on and politics are a nightmare, levity becomes essential. I definitely hit the jackpot with My Wonderful Wanda, a sensitive and thoroughly charming family dramedy from Swiss director Bettina Oberli. The film takes place entirely at the lakeside summer home of a wealthy German family which is preparing for the 70th birthday of Josef, the patriarch. Joseph is recovering from a stroke and is not yet ambulatory. He only has partial use of his arms and consequently needs constant care. His caregiver is the delightful Wanda (Agnieszka Grochowska), a Polish woman in her mid-thirties. She is efficient and gentle with her somewhat cantankerous patient who is totally dependent on her. In fact, he prefers her administrations to that of his family. There is a playful affection between them. Elsa, the matriarch, played by the eternal Marthe Keller, is also fairly demanding, but she is so lovely and genteel and genuinely appreciates Wanda. All she wants is smooth sailing and she trusts Wanda.
My Wonderful Wanda, Starring Marthe Keller - Elsa, André Jung - Josef, © Aliocha Merker Zodiac Pictures Ltd 2020
As preparations for the birthday celebration accelerate, the two adult children, Gregi and Sofie and Sofie’s husband are all assembled under the same roof and tensions ripple under the surface. Totally normal for dysfunctional families under stress. But Wanda seems to be the inadvertent catalyst for all of their discontent and, as such, becomes the heart of the film. Gregi, a case of arrested development, is totally smitten with Wanda and spies on her constantly. He repeatedly resists the entreaties of his father to take over the family business. Sofie, in a loveless marriage, cares more about the family business, and resents her dreamer of a brother who lives for birds, yet is favored by the father. Sofie is a portrait of the bitter, dissatisfied, spoiled rich bitch. She does not trust Wanda, suspecting her of designs on the family fortune. With all of their buried issues being allowed to run riot, there is a lot of nasty acting out as well as some moments of honesty, expressions of pain and regret. Secrets and lies are being revealed. The dynamics are constantly shifting.
My Wonderful Wanda, Starring Jacob Matschenz - Gregi, Birgit Minichmayr - Sophie, Agnieszka Grochowska - Wanda, Marthe Keller - Elsa, © Aliocha Merker Zodiac Pictures Ltd 2020
Wanda works hard and puts up with a lot from all of them because she needs the money to send to Poland to support her two young children being raised by her parents. When Wanda becomes mysteriously pregnant all hell breaks loose and nothing will ever be the same again. It is wonderful to see all of the ossified pretensions and beliefs just shatter and crash. The road leading to the improbable conclusion is a convoluted emotional roller coaster. It includes Wanda’s entire family showing up unannounced from Poland. But no one ever said the road to salvation was easy. The family that emerges from the fog of chaos has softened and let go of their ingrained certainties, gained some compassion and learned the benefits of flexibility and open-mindedness. There is an implied happy future which includes Wanda in an unconventional way previously inconceivable to this bourgeois family. The journey is thoroughly engaging, touching, funny and smart.
The ensemble works well together in a mostly realistic directorial style. Growchowska has the unselfconscious appeal of Juliet Binoche and is thoroughly engaging. It is a treat to see Marthe Keller after so many years looking as beautiful as ever and equally compelling. The genius of Oberli is how she creates the ebb and flow of complex relationships in such an organic way. It reminded me of watching fish in a tank as they go in one direction and pivot in a nano-second without warning to go in a whole new direction – all acting individually but clearly aware of and influenced by the others in the tank. Mostly, what I love about it is its optimism. It made it seem that even when everything gets broken, there is always a different way forward. Maybe even better.
(Virtual Cinema or Kinomarquee.com)
