Viktoria

The recent history of Bulgaria is treated in surrealistic fashion in Maya Vitkova's debut feature, a dark political satire about the last decade of Communist rule. Despite the efforts of Boryana (Irmena Chichikova)—a librarian determined to emigrate to the West—to abort her pregnancy, she winds up giving birth to a daughter who (amazingly) has no belly button. This medical miracle causes the Communist party, led by nerdy Todor Zhivkov (Georgi Spasov), to hail the infant—named Viktoria—as the socialist baby of the decade, representing the new woman who will protect the system, unfettered by ties to the past. Nine years later, Viktoria (Daria Vitkova) is the ultimate brat, spoiled by privileges heaped on her family—including a direct telephone line to Zhivkov. But her mother remains distant, and things change radically for them both—as well as Viktoria's father (Dimo Dimov)—when Zhivkov falls from power and the Communist regime collapses. In the film's final third, Viktoria (now played by Kalina Vitkova) must cope with her new status, which includes reconnecting with her aged grandmother, a party stalwart whom Boryana had banished from the family. Throughout, director Vitkova uses bold images of milk and blood to emphasize the dissolution of maternal bonds, but the film suffers from jarring tonal shifts and is decidedly overlong. Still, its wonderfully absurdist take on the last years of Bulgarian Communism makes this a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)