Keep Away from the Window

Jan’s once happy marriage starts to fall apart when his wife Barbara finds out that she can’t have children. This small family drama is overshadowed, however, by a catastrophe of far greater proportions – the outbreak of the Second World War. For the young couple the war is embodied primarily in the figure of the collaborator Jodla who is secretly in love with Barbara. In spite of the danger involved, Jan is planning to hide a young Jewish woman named Regina with whom he eventually becomes intimate. After Barbara learns that Regina is expecting Jan’s baby she decides to pretend that she, too, is pregnant. But noble feelings have not motivated her, rather an intense desire to be a mother. After Regina has Helusia, a little girl, Barbara completely takes charge of her. One day, desperate, Regina leaves her hiding place and disappears. Years later Helusia finds out the truth and sets out to find Regina in Germany. Which of the two mothers will she choose in the end? (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)