A group of adolescent girls accompanied by a young brother of one of them hitch-hike in an adventurous quest in summer weather through the Czech landscape, originally intending to travel to Holland, though the intended destination is irrelevant to the plot of this film and their related efforts seem somewhat half-hearted. The trip is a part of their psychological maturation. The main merit of this movie is in its psychologically unusually accurate and emotionally moving portrait of the intra-psychic teenage turmoil. The director Karin Babinská is a master in this respect and the performance of the actors favorably compares to the majority of Hollywood films. The key protagonist (played by Marie Dolezalová) unsuccessfully attempts to overcome or firmly suppress her intense erotic attraction to women. In the first part of the film, she vehemently denies her orientation when queried in this respect by a more experienced, more mature, and overtly lesbian lady. She experiences intense frustrations in her intra-psychic struggle, even attempts suicide, but remains kind to her friends even when these contemplate rejecting her after detecting her erotic preference. These other girls in her group also struggle with growing up pains and with adolescent impulsiveness and self-doubts. The film excellently reflects their adolescent search for a fulfilling friendship and for a more satisfactory definition of one-self. The film culminates when the protagonist (Marie Dolezalová) finally again encounters and befriends the more mature and overtly lesbian lady: this meeting helps her to develop a stronger self-acceptance.
Review of Pusinky
