JIFF26 Mariana's Room

Based on Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld’s acclaimed novel ‘Blooms of Darkness’, this masterful World War II drama revolves around an 11-year-old Jewish boy who finds refuge in a brothel, and the intimate and complex bond he forms with a sex worker played by Mélanie Thierry in a career-defining role.  After escaping a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Ukraine, Hugo finds himself separated from his mother and seeking shelter in the unlikeliest of places: a brothel run by Mariana. Hidden away in a closet, Hugo's world is confined to murmurs and shadows, but as Mariana coaxes him from his hiding place, an extraordinary bond forms between them, one that will challenge Hugo's understanding of love, sacrifice, and the capacity for both evil and profound humanity.  Raw, sensitive and emotionally complex, Mariana’s Room paints a portrait of the Holocaust through a child’s eyes and a powerful meditation on how we preserve innocence in impossible circumstances.