Since Otar Left

Since Otar Left (original French title: Depuis qu'Otar est parti...) is a 2003 film by director Julie Bertuccelli, recounting the lives of three Georgian women in modern-day Tbilisi. It focuses on the attempts of a mother and daughter, Marina and Ada, to hide the death of Marina's brother in Paris from Marina and her brother's elderly mother, Eka. The film was widely well-received, and won the coveted Critics' Week Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Plot The three women live in a run-down apartment in one of Tbilisi's oldest neighborhoods. They endure the realities of modern Georgian life, such as frequent power blackouts and a dilapidated infrastructure. Eka remains the matriarch. She retains an often fractious relationship with her daughter, Marina, but is close to her granddaughter, Ada. However, it is her son Otar that she is most attached to. Otar Gogebashvili, although a doctor, has recently moved to France because of newly independent Georgia's difficult economic situation. In Paris, he works illegally in construction in order to support the three women. Eka eagerly awaits Otar's regular calls and the money he sends. The generational difference is apparent: Eka loves French culture, speaks perfect French but remains a Stalinist, even in 2002, whereas Ada is Westernized, and longs to follow her uncle's path to the West. Marina has a degree but, due to high unemployment, sells heirlooms at the market. Their life changes drastically when Marina receives a call from Otar's friend, Niko, who had accompanied him to France. Niko bears bad news: Otar has been killed in an accident. Eka is elderly and fragile, and Marina and Ada agree that the shock could kill her. In a similar manner to the German film, Good Bye Lenin!, released in the same year, they decide to conceal Otar's death.