Lessons of Love

This candid, close-up portrait shows a Polish woman going her own way after separating from her abusive husband of 45 years. She leaves him behind at their house in Italy and returns to Poland to celebrate life. Chatting with girlfriends on the beach, she recalls her teenage years, when she got pregnant and married the wrong boy. Half of Polish men hit their wives, says Jola.

She wears makeup, enjoys fine clothes and jewelry, and is surprised to discover that her daughter finds these things unimportant. She takes singing lessons, sings songs of love, repairs her own roof and goes to dancing lessons—where she meets Wojtek, a nice man who sees something in her. Is it love?

In observational style, with the occasional dreamlike accent, filmmakers Malgorzata Goliszewska and Kasia Mateja show Jola’s determined side, but also her vulnerability and self-doubt. Lessons of Love is a cinematic and joyful account of a woman’s battle to reinvent herself at the age of 69.