During the War, screened at the 50th Hong Kong
International Film Festival
Lithuanian filmmaker Andrius Blaževičius at the Q&A
session after a Hong Kong International Film Festival
screening of his film
How to Divorce During the War (Lithuania-Luxembourg-Ireland, 2025)
- Andrius Blaževičius, director-scriptwriter
- Starring: Marius Repšys, Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė, Amelija Adomaitytė
- Part of the HKIFF's Young Cinema Competition (World) program
I don't know if others feel the same way about this but How to Divorce During the War strikes me as a title for an absurdist comedy rather than, say, an utterly serious drama. As it turned out though, there is very little to laugh about in this work, set in 2022 Lithuania, about a nuclear family whose world is turned upside down by the parents splitting around the time that the Russians attacked Ukraine.
Vitas (played by Marius Repšys) is a filmmaker who spends more time daily cleaning the family home and being the main caregiver for pre-teen daughter Dovile (essayed by Amelija Adomaityte) than on the latest script that he's working on but has writer's block over. In the eyes of his high-flying media exec spouse, Marija (Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė), he is a shadow of the interesting, intelligent man that she married -- and so she wants out. (She's also in a lesbian relationship with a colleague who seems to have egged her to divorce her husband.)
Since their house was in Marija's name, she had the legal right to ask Vitas to move out of it. Which he reluctantly did. Their daughter Dovile stays with Marija while Vitas moves back in with his parents, who he finds increasingly hard to get along with; especially after he finds -- via their doing such as spouting pro-Russian propaganda about the Ukraine war -- that they do not share his political views, which are more aligned with that of his now-ex-wife along with their daughter.
Consequently, Vitas finds himself part of not just one but two families at war with themselves at a low point in his professional life. And, truly, it's hard not to feel for him. And, also, Doville. Who doesn't say much but watches, observes and knows far more -- about the family situation and also what's going on in the world at large -- than her parents and other adults may realise.
On the other hand, Marija is not always as easy to have sympathy for; and is someone whose actions I sometimes could understand but I disagreed with at others. The most complex character in the movie, it is through her that one is shown the domestic and internal conflicts that can arise from a woman becoming the main provider of the family -- something that still is the exception rather than the rule. Also the conflict that a working person has with regards to how much one should -- or, maybe the better word is can -- professionally and financially sacrifice for one's ideological beliefs.
My sense is that many Hongkongers who viewed this film will most relate to Vitas: particularly, his experiences with his parents. Because of what happened here in 2019 and after China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong (in 2020), and how what happened were covered and portrayed by media on different sides of the political equation, conflicts (have) ensued between many parents and their (adult) offspring; and resulted in the breaking up of families -- or, at the very least, an increasing number of (adult) offspring deciding to move out of family abodes to live on their own.
Part of me wanted to ask How to Divorce During the War's director-scriptwriter, Andrius Blaževičius, whether he was aware of Hong Kong's situation during the Q&A that was held after the screening I attended of his film. Also, whether he knew that many Hongkongers feel a kinship with Ukrainians (and why). But while I didn't, I do get the sense that he wasn't entirely clueless about why this sensitive dramatic offering is one that can resonate with people here even though they live thousands of kilometers away from Lithuania and Ukraine.
My rating for this film: 7.0
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