Blaga's Lessons

Blaga, a retired Bulgarian teacher with strict principles and values, cannot bury her husband within the traditional forty days because she has lost all her money in a telephone scam. When the mortician keeps jacking up the price of the grave, her environment reacts with ridicule instead of solidarity, and the press even suspects dementia, she loses all hope and trust in contemporary Bulgarian society. Since her only income as a language teacher is not enough, she is forced to think about more effective ways of raising money... BLAGA'S LESSONS by director Stephan Komandarev is both a serious and humorous look at contemporary Bulgaria. Blaga's generation loses its entire past and gains nothing for the future. The plot of the film reminded me of the 2012 French comedy PAULETTE, but more sophisticated and on a much higher intellectual level, but without losing appeal for a wide audience. The director's brave decision to put despair and escape at the end makes us think about what could help a society more than showing hope only as the end of a film.