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Clean

Original title: Czyste
Participated in: MIDPOINT Smash Cut 2024
Country: Poland, Ukraine

Two Ukrainian sisters try to stay sane while cleaning at Polish clients. When the daughter of one of them arrives, it gets even less feasible.

New Year’s Eve 2021. Zoya (21) arrives from Ukraine to Warsaw. She plans to take her mother Lesia (43), working in Poland as a cleaning lady, home for (orthodox) Christmas, against mother’s earlier decision not to go. The girl jumps into already tense situation between Lesia and her sister Sasha (36) who also cleans houses but mainly daydreams about a wealthy life she used to have in Ukraine. The three women clash with each other while working for Polish clients, confused souls themselves: a woman with dementia living with her daughter and granddaughter, a drug dealer, a corporate executive, a fitness club owner, and young parents supported by parents. Their peculiar expectations combined with irreconcilable desires of Lesia, Sasha and Zoya lead to a mess spiralling in the rhythm of Monday to Friday cleanings. Weekends, instead of chill, bring even odder affairs. 24 February, the day of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, adds an unanticipated dimension to the neurotic jumble.

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