Since Otar Left

Three women live in the same house in Tbilisi: old Eka, her daughter Marina and her granddaughter Ada. The one joy in the house is the letters and phone calls from Otar, who works in Paris. Otar is Eka's son and Marina's brother. One day word comes from Paris: Otar has died in an accident at work. Marina and Ada decide not to tell the old woman and begin writing the letters themselves. It is Julie Bertuccelli's first feature. The film takes place in post-Soviet Georgia; the power cuts, the belongings being sold and everyone who has left for abroad stand in the background. As the lie grows the two women have to keep it going, and what the old woman knows stays uncertain until the end. Esther Gorintin plays Eka. The production won the Critics' Week Grand Prize at Cannes in 2003 and the César for best first film the following year.