It's Not My Film

A woman and a man walk down a beach dragging a sled filled with luggage looking like polar explorers. After another row and an attempt to divorce, Janek and his wife give themselves an ultimatum and decide to go on a 400-kilometer hike along the Baltic Sea in the middle of winter. If they can overcome the challenge, they will stay together forever, if not, they will break up. During their journey, they must overcome bad weather conditions and once again learn how to be together.

"When Grandma got fed up with Grandpa, she imagined what hat and frock she would wear to his funeral..."! Well I'm not sure these two are going to have to wait that long as a mid-life crisis seems to have descended on the marriage of "Wanda" (Zofia Chabiera) and "Janek" (Marcin Sztabinski). They can barely stand to be in the same house together any more, and when they are they bicker with increasing vulgarity and animosity. Then he suggests that they take a trip. A 400km walk around the Polish Baltic coast - in February - and if they survive the journey then there is clearly something left of their marriage. If not, well they agree to call it quits and split the value of the sofa that she's never liked anyway. Armed with a few $30 sleds, a tent and some tins of tuna they set off on this pilgrimage to test what's left of their love. The photography shows off the beautiful bleakness of this coastline effectively and at times it looks as if they are trudging across some Arctic wastelands, never far from the audio of the crushing sea as it threatens to wash them away; freeze them to death or induce some sort of hypothermia. Their conversations vacillate between the friendly and the loathing, and with her birthday falling along the way and a few interesting people populating their path we take what is quite an entertainingly scripted journey with two people who have some home truths to face up to. It takes a while to get us onto the sand, but once we start and they realise that the elements are far less forgiving than they can ever be of each other, their excursion becomes quite a quirkily crafted exploration of what makes a relationship tick. There's some flashbacks to showcase better days and a few coastal characters to break up the intensity - my favourite being the tomato grandmother (Elzbieta Karkoszka) and who knew that a bat in winter time sees it's heartbeat rate drop from 400 beats per minute to a mere four! The pair gel really quite well but it's the poignant and relatable writing that raises a laugh now and again by quite potently observing how difficult it can be to actually sustain a marriage. By the denouement, which isn't quite what you might have expected, I actually found myself quite liking both of them and I reckon this is worth a look.