SXSW '25: Idyllic days foster existential dread in Glorious Summer

In their directorial debut, which had its World Premiere at SXSW this year—titled Glorious Summer—co-directors Helena Ganjalyan and Bartosz Szpak craft an ethereal vehicle to examine the pitfalls of blissful ignorance. The Polish filmmakers exercise a respectable amount of restraint in their storytelling, resulting in a contemplative feature that never reveals too much, to arresting effect.  

Glorious Summer takes place in one single beguiling, nondescript setting. In the idyllic (yet crumbling) villa, the three women pass their days in a childlike state of carelessness, playing with water guns, sunbathing, and walking around the lush mansion grounds. It feels like an Éric Rohmer summertime tale, with a touch of Andrei Tarkovsky’s existentialism. Dread lingers in every sun-soaked scene, because despite their exception from responsibility, a lack of independence pervades their lives. They are not allowed to leave, and remain completely closed off from the outside world. This absence of true freedom becomes suffocating, but each of the three react to their environment in different ways with varying degrees of codependency and angst. 

One of Glorious Summer’s most intriguing aspects comes in the form of the omnipresent voice which directs the women from the morning on, with daily check-ins on their mindfulness progress. This high-tech machinery exists without explanation, listening and watching the women throughout the day. They are led through language exercises and meditation in the name of worldly, spiritual growth. The sound editing here is particularly engaging, taking the film to a science fiction realm. The languages spoken by the calm, feminine voice switch between Swedish, Italian, English and Arabic, adding to the film’s lack of place.

For the women living in this villa, the forced state of mindfulness becomes oppressive. The trio are psychologically punished for expressing wants beyond those spiritually stimulating, and for expression of negative emotion. Engaging in meditative rituals becomes a constant chore, as the women are lulled into a past and futureless existence, fully focused on the now. Despite having no practical responsibilities, tasked only with enjoying each day as it comes, the women yearn for the real world, eventually conspiring against the people that keep them captive. They do this under surveillance through a developed language of touch, which allows them to communicate nonverbally, another intriguing avenue to communicate themes in the film. 

Glorious Summer’s mystery works due to the overall simplicity of its story and razor-sharp focus on what it’s trying to explore, specifically the tradeoffs between comfort and freedom. The characters are never named, and context for their unusual situation is never given, forcing the viewer to contend with what’s in front of them without explanation. Like the women, we’re brought into the ruminative, liminal space between reality and dreams. It’s arresting, and despite very little plot to drive the film, it’s engaging in its execution alone. There’s never a big reveal which explains all of the moving forces behind the women’s unusual living predicament, which could frustrate some, but the film’s true beauty lies in its simplicity. 

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