Panorama review - CALL ME MARIANNA by Karolina Bielawska

An emotional, physical and legal rebirth. CALL ME MARIANNA by KAROLINA BIELAWSKA was screened in the PANORAMA section of the 15th T-MOBILE NEW HORIZONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.

The title of the documentary might openly recall CAITLYN JENNER's much publicised sex change and more directly her now famous VANITY FAIR cover. Whether or not this will be a drawback for the film remains to be seen. 

What is certain is that CALL ME MARIANNA is indeed a film that deals with the still somewhat taboo subject of sex change, as it follows the titular MARIANNA who decides to completely re-invent herself as a woman, which inevitably seems to mean giving up her role as a father and husband and also alienates her from her family and friends. However, despite the constant rejection from society and her everyday struggles, she is determined by will and courage to go through with the excruciating process.

Filmmaker KAROLINA BIELAWSKA follows her subject over the course of a few months, and the narrative arch eventually leads to the operating table and its immediate aftermath. 

It is a very candid and subject driven documentary, but it features some unusual features in which Marianna herself directs a male and a female actors through a line reading which seem to be faithful transcriptions of real dialogues that took place between her and her then spose and mother of her child. These sequences don't really match the progression of the storyline, and sometimes break its tension or sway the focus away from the progression of the events. Nevertheless, the fact that in these sequences Marianna seems physically challenged, we fear that something might have gone wrong in the course of her journey, thus adding a natural gripping sense of mystery to CALL ME MARIANNA. 

This is a documentary that mostly provides a good and well balanced picture of the constant struggle experienced by its leading character. And one can certainly appreciate the warm and humanizing approach used by the filmmaker in bringing this story to the big screen, considering that this is still a subject that is quite alien to far too many people as well as a constant subject of universal debate.