Home Sweet Home

Director Wojciech Smarzowski's 2025 film deliberately plays its title against his own 2009 film Dom zły, "The Dark House." Gośka, a young woman living with a difficult mother, meets Grzesiek online and falls into what looks like a perfect romance, flowers, a proposal in Venice, everything she'd hoped for. Once they move in together, though, the film shifts from intense romance into a stark drama about domestic abuse and control. It became Poland's most watched homegrown film of 2025, drawing over 2.3 million viewers, with an unusual box office curve where its second weekend audience actually grew fifty four percent over its first, and it led the 2026 Polish Film Awards with thirteen nominations, winning Best Film among other top prizes. The film made the shortlist of seven for Poland's 2026 Oscar submission, though the country ultimately selected Agnieszka Holland's Franz instead. Critical opinion split, with some reviewers accusing the director of cheap sensationalism, even as the film became a major hit at the box office and at Poland's own awards. Who it's for: Followers of contemporary Polish drama willing to sit with a blunt, unflinching treatment of domestic abuse. Who it's not for: Viewers sensitive to charges of sensationalism should go in cautious, since some critics found the film's harshness excessive.