‘Flesh, Blood, Even a Heart’ Is Not a Film About a Daughter Forgiving Her Father: It’s “OK to Be Angry”

Latvian writer-director Alise Zariņa’s (Nearby) new feature, Flesh, Blood, Even a Heart, celebrated its world premiere in the Baltic Competition at the29th editionof theTallinn Black Nights Film Festival(PÖFF) late on Tuesday, Latvia’s Independence Day.

The coming-of-age dramedy follows Liv, a woman in her 30s who struggles with body insecurities. “Once, Liv dreamed of being a Barbie and still hopes her loving, somewhat old-fashioned husband finds her irresistible, even if their kisses are few and far between,” says a synopsis of the movie. “Everything changes when Liv receives a sudden call: her estranged father is in a coma and undergoing intensive therapy. Her awkward, cynical mother remains stuck in the past with rigid rules and sees the stroke as a random attempt to escape. Liv wants to speak to her father, but each visit leaves her lost in the maze-like corridors of the brutalist hospital.”

Flesh, Blood, Even a Heart, from producers Alise Rogule and Roberts Vinovskis, stars Ieva Segliņa, Gatis Maliks, Eduards Johansons, Januss Johansons, Leonarda Ķestere, and more.

Star Segliņa and director Zariņa patiently answered questions from the audience following the premiere. “I had a journalist coming and asking, ‘So this film is about forgiveness,’ and I said not necessarily,” the director shared. “She was like, ‘But it’s about how we should forgive our parents and fathers.’ It’s also okay to be angry.” Finally, the journalist suggested the movie was maybe about how to overcome trauma. Zariņa’s reaction? “I thought ‘maybe.’ I didn’t want to make this film about this magical solution, because I think that’s a lot of burden on my generation and the next generation [when we] feel that we have to solve it. It becomes this magical duty of our lives. But it stays with you. It still is a trauma.”

Concluded Zariņa: “I think acceptance of anger, acceptance of very complicated emotions is important, because I don’t want the relationship to be a fairy tale. I don’t think that the father [in the film] is a complete asshole. I mean, there are a lot of charming things about him. So, I didn’t want to tell the story that this is absolute hate or absolute love, because for me, it was complicated.”

Actress Segliņa shared about her experience working on Flesh, Blood, Even a Heart: “It was not hard to do the movie. But it was quite strange that in my personal life, almost the same things happened. My father passed away during rehearsals. And we had a really complicated relationship.”

She wasn’t sure what kind of emotions seeing the final movie for the first time at the Tallinn world premiere would bring up. “I’m so happy that I’m okay, because I laughed so much,” she told the audience. “Alise, in every scene, put a smile on my face or inside of me, and I laughed so much. I had a feeling that I stepped out of it and somehow [experienced], it’s a big word, healing or something like that.”

After shooting all sorts of hospital scenes for Flesh, Blood, Even a Heart, director Zariņa is considering a new project related to that. She shared: “Actually, I’m right now thinking about doing a documentary in hospitals, because I still have something to say.”