This still and quiet movie takes us back early on the COVID-19 outbreak in a small mining and industrial town in Bulgaria, where Iva, a textile factory worker fantastically portrayed by Gergana Pletnyova, is publicly blamed for the spread of the virus.

The intention of presenting the behavioural effects that Covid had on the population while using this as a vehicle to criticise the deceptive “European dream”, especially for former soviet countries, falls slightly flat as some elements, such as mask use, tests, quarantine, or medical team overwork, are analysed but in a superfluous manner. Parallelly, the abuse of the working class by owners who take advantage of the free movement of capital across the EU is also understood, particularly early on in the film, but seems to be also approached in a frivolous manner.

On top of that, what feels most unfortunately simplistic from the movie is the approach to blame our protagonist in a basically homogeneous manner. The fact that the whole town, simply because TV says so, labels her as the culprit of spreading a global virus within their borders feels absurdly far-fetched. It is quite unbelievable that Dr Rusev is the sole exception to an otherwise completely idiotic folk. The conflict between governmental interests in keeping the business owner happy and the truth feels like it could have been a more interesting thread to knit rather than that of the public ostracising by coworkers and other citizens. This is topped by a lacklustre family drama concerning the victim, her son (who even gets to blame her own mother at a certain point of his misfortunes!), and her brother, with whom she has both past and present grievances.

All this leads to an uneven resolution. Not so much for the reason for which X decides to counterattack against the accusations, but rather for a certain feeling of justice that the film tries to convey quite incorrectly. It feels like a whole different movie is meant to pick up where the end left off to truly reach that point.