I, Olga Hepnarova

The name of Olga Hepnarova is seared into Czech cultural memory but little known in the West, and it's arguable this dramatised case study gains in power for those unaware of the history behind it. Shot in clinical black-and-white, the film starts out as a sobering coming-of-age story about a teenage misfit in rural 1960s Czechoslovakia, alienated from her seemingly indifferent parents, and badly abused by fellow patients in a psychiatric hospital. Although in her early twenties, Polish actress Michalina Olszanska's gamine frame and moody presence allow her to register Hepnarova's deeply troubled adolescence, drawing sympathy for her as a victim of bullying, but also suggesting deep-rooted psychological issues which later have truly horrifying consequences. The true-life events that follow will shock unprepared viewers, but the restrained direction aims for a balanced analysis, not necessarily excusing her extreme actions but investigating the skewed psychology behind them. It's a cool, compelling and profoundly unsettling piece of film-making.