Before, Now & Then

Kamila Andini's 2022 Indonesian film is set in West Java in the sixties and follows Nana, wife of a wealthy plantation owner. She lives with the memory of her first husband, killed in the civil war; the unexpected friendship she forms with Ino, her husband's mistress, settles at the centre of the story. The film was made in Sundanese and takes off from the story of a real woman. Andini's interest is not political violence itself but the silence it leaves in a woman's daily life; the story proceeds indoors, through scenes of hair being combed and food prepared. Laura Basuki won the Silver Bear for supporting performance at the Berlin Film Festival. The pace is very slow. Who it's for: viewers who like Indonesian cinema and women-centred period drama. Who it's not for: anyone wanting incident, or who will find the indirect handling of the political context incomplete.