Beneath Her Window (2003) User Reviews

I didn't know Slovenian cinema was so good

[threeJane · 7/10 · 25 April 2008]

Something about this film reminds me of French cinema. However in this film, the beautiful young woman is independent, brave, and she works for a living.

The script is very, very good. I love the stalker and his history, the way the married man gets dumped, the relationship between Dusa and her mother. Dusa's job (teaching dancing) provides opportunity to show off Polona Juh's considerable dancing skills when she uses the studio after hours.

The whole 'offbeat' thing is a bit too offbeat; trying a bit too hard. The same with the romance. These are just minor criticisms of an otherwise good film.

enjoyable, humorous, and offbeat

[Maiklas3000 · 7/10 · 20 May 2004]

Is Dusha going crazy, or is someone *really* stalking her? Dusha is a woman from a dysfunctional family, atypical for Slovenia. Her father ran off to India, and her pragmatic mother chooses sexual partners on the basis of their useful skills, such as an auto mechanic. Dusha is having something of an early mid-life crisis at age 30, questioning whether her married lover really loves her and trying to drown her misery with drugs and dancing. She tries to find answers in the stars, without success. She becomes convinced that someone is sneaking into her apartment to unclog her sink. A shallow love story ensues with someone even more dysfunctional than she. It's a story of meeting life's adversities, starting with being towed away while still in her car and then a king cobra delivered to her home and finally a much bigger problem, and dispatching them with pragmatism and relative ease.

The acting is good, and the script is good, and this already puts it far above most Slovenian films. It's enjoyable, humorous, and offbeat. I lost myself in the story. Although in some ways the film feels shallow, I believe below the surface lurks symbolism, most obviously with the cobra and storks.

Minor complaints: The English subtitles were not edited by a native English speaker. I would have preferred the ending to have jumped forward 20 years to show how everything turns out, but being left with something to chew on has its advantages.

Watch it, you won't regret it.

[mia2164 · 9/10 · 1 May 2008]

I loved this movie! I stumbled upon it on television one night completely by accident and got thoroughly sucked-in. The characters are delightful and interesting and real (and the acting of them completely believable and charming). But more than anything else, perhaps the best thing I can say about this film is that it stuck with me. I particularly love the father of the stalker and his search for the green-legged moorhen. The film is full of beautiful, subtle humour. The kind of comedy of everyday life, simple events that we can all relate to, humour that endears us to the characters (for example the scene in which she tries to rip up her birthday card, or even the manic zig zagging of the stalker's camera trying to catch a look at the elusive bird... "Did you see it? No. Neither did I" things like that which I can't exactly explain why they're funny, they just are... maybe because they're so realistic... its almost the exact inverse of Hollywood humour where comedic moments usually stem from the fantastical or absurd). Anyway watch it if you can. I feel it has added to my life rather than merely stolen my time, and that, really, is how we can define a worthwhile movie.