One year before the USSR collapses. Kira (17 y.o.) is stepping out of her adolescence into adult life at the very same moment as Ukraine steps out of Soviet slavery into the unknown. Together they will try all kinds of things for the first time – funny, dangerous, rebellious – as every teenager does. Just as her parents' marriage falls apart and her Motherland faces the abrupt challenge of reformation, Kira must step into a new world of youth and face the crumbling of her childhood.
Elżbieta Olzacka about the film:
The early 1990s in Kyiv. Together with the protagonist, Kira, the daughter of a Ukrainian director and a student at a drama school, we observe the anxiety, chaos, and nervousness that accompany the collapse of the Soviet Union. Dispassionate radio coverage of the current crisis is blaring in the background. The severed head of the Lenin statue is being transported on a tram. People are waiting in lines without even knowing what they are waiting for, and in a defunct film studio, the filmmakers are getting drunk and blaming each other for being conformists. It is also a time of economic liberalization and lowered border controls that allow a free flow of new goods, such as jeans, VHS cassettes of Hollywood movies, and bubble gum, which can be obtained on the black market near the railway tracks. Finally, it's a period of great possibilities and new beginnings that can make the film characters feel dizzy.
In this historical setting, a family crisis drags Kira out of her carefree youth and forces her to grow up. Her parents' divorce shakes her sense of security. It's easy to see how these personal struggles mirror the chaos in the public sphere. This is summed up in a dry sociology lecture when the teacher insists that happy families make for a happy state. However, Kira, instead of taking notes, scribbles in her notebook. She is more drawn to hands-on experience than to theory. A young woman caught between her idealistic ambitions and the harsh realities of adult life struggles with the transition and seeks an answer to the questions: "Does anyone love me? And what does that even mean?"
Directed by Tonia Noyabrova and inspired by her biography, the film is rich in details that help us understand Kyiv's atmosphere during transformation and the sincerity of a young woman's desire to live her life rather than just act out a script. The expressive Karyna Khymchuk handles this character beautifully. She compensates for the lack of professional experience with authenticity in conveying the uncompromising energy of youth and sensitivity when coming into contact with the sometimes soulless world of adults.
Do you love me? is a film about the coming-of-age of the first generation of independent Ukraine, as well as their quest for self-discovery and freedom against the backdrop of everyday life of the Ukrainian 1990s, meticulously reconstructed down to the smallest detail.
