It’s 1981 and Perla, an exiled artist and single mother in Vienna, returns to communist Czechoslovakia at the behest of her daughter’s father, who—under the guise of a false cancer diagnosis—seeks to re-enter their lives. Caught between the ghosts of yesterday and the tentative possibility of a fresh start, Perla embarks on a perilous journey of reconciliation—or reckoning—with an unresolved past. Alexandra Makarová draws on elements of personal experience to craft a story of emotional, rather than political, resilience and struggle, reminiscent of the nuanced character studies of Christian Petzold’s work. Meticulous direction and a striking mise en scène, underscored by outstanding production design, evokes the psychological terror of a regime that demands both loyalty and silence. For Perla, dignity is the only answer.