Perla (2025) by Alexandra Makarová - Review

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by Alexandra Makarová

grade: 7

Trauma, identity, but also a deep sense of guilt and subtle manipulation make Perla a particularly complex and well-written work, in which each individual character is multi-faceted and in which everyone can be considered both victim and perpetrator at the same time.

Forgetting the past?

The present, the dream of a happy future at last, a past that keeps coming back. It is not easy to overcome certain traumas without having settled some unfinished business. Perla (played by Rebeka Poláková) knows this well. She is also the protagonist of the feature film Perla, Alexandra Makarová’s second film, which had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025.

We find ourselves in Vienna, in 1981. Perla is a talented painter who moved to Austria several years ago with her daughter Julia (Carmen Diego). She managed to escape from communist Czechoslovakia, while her partner Andrej (Noel Czuczor), the father of her daughter, was arrested. In any case, our Perla, trying to rebuild her life, has in the meantime married Josef (Simon Schwarz) and also planning a future exhibition with her paintings, seems to have finally found her own balance. But what would happen if Josef were to be released from prison and try to contact her again?

Inspired by the life of the director’s grandmother, Perla tells us through images the story of one woman, of many women who found themselves having to come to terms with their past in a Europe where numerous conflicts seemed to make people forget the value of human beings. And so, in this interesting feature film by Alexandra Makarová, we not only see how past and present are closely related, but also how the past itself leaves its traces in an almost indelible way, forcing anyone who has experienced it to never forget what happened.

In this regard, the theme of identity is particularly interesting. Perla has kept her name, but after marrying Josef she changed her nationality, claiming to be Austrian in all respects and denying her past and her origins. So why does she continue to speak Slovak with her daughter, even though the girl wants to speak German? And why, once she returned to her hometown with her family, did she try to find every possible excuse to delay her return to Vienna?

Trauma, identity, but also a deep sense of guilt and subtle manipulation make Perla a particularly complex and well-written work, in which each individual character is multi-faceted and in which everyone can be considered both victim and perpetrator at the same time. And if the real perpetrators were, in reality, war, dictatorship, anyone, eager for power, willing to forget all moral principles, in order to achieve their goals? Through a meticulous mise-en-scène with a dark and somewhat unsettling atmosphere (even during the more idyllic moments), Alexandra Makarova has given us a feature film that is both personal and universal. A work that offers many food for thought.