Etero (Eka Chavleishvili) is a 48-year-old woman living alone in a village in Georgia. Having lost her mother to ovarian cancer, Etero dutifully tended to her father and brother while they were alive. Much to the snide amusement of her frilly local contemporaries, Etero has never wanted a husband, preferring blackberry-picking, cake and solitude. “If marriage and dicks brought happiness, many women would be happy,” she tells a frisky customer in her store.
One fateful morning, distracted by the bright-beaked thrush of the title, she loses her footing and falls into a ravine. This near-death experience provides an unexpected romantic catalyst. She practically pounces on a delivery driver named Murman (Temiko Chichinadze), who is simultaneously smitten and surprised. “I didn’t think you liked me,” he says.
“Forty-eight years of virginity” then gives way to puppy love, albeit between post-teens. It’s an unexpected turn for a fiercely independent woman. Strange medical symptoms, including hot flushes, compound Etero’s inner conflict. Her neighbours shrug off these ailments as perimenopausal effects. Etero, however, becomes fearful that she will succumb to the condition that killed her mother.
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry has hoovered up more than a dozen international awards for its director and star since its Cannes bow last year, including best actress at Dublin International Film Festival. Working from a novel by the Georgian author Tamta Melashvili, Naveriani and her writer, Nikoloz Mdivani, have crafted a warm, witty and wise film. Chavleishvili is a marvel as the generally fearless heroine. The cinematographer Agnesh Pakozdi finds fun and heat in midlife passion. The mischievous denouement will leave a smile on your face for days.
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Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry is on limited release from Friday, May 3rd
