‘Housekeeping for Beginners’ is a heartfelt film about an unlikely family struggling to stay together.
By Bob Tremblay/Boston Movie News
Imagine if “La Cage aux Folles” were a drama instead of a comedy, and you’d have “Housekeeping for Beginners.”
Well, kind of, since this film almost defies easy genre classification. Comedy does find its place in “Housekeeping,” though it stems more from chaos than one-liners. Even the film’s title comes with a wink. In an abode populated with castaways finding refuge, this is the type of housekeeping that would require a seasoned professional to set straight.
The film even opens on an upbeat note, literally, as three characters, Ali (Samson Selim), teenage Vanesa (Mia Mustafa), and 6-year-old Mia (Dzada Selim), perform a lively karaoke rendition of Konstrakta’s “In Corpore Sano.” When Dita (Anamaria Marinca) and Sauda (Alina Serban) enter, they wonder who the heck Ali is dancing with Sauda’s daughters. They are not amused, particularly Dita. It turns out Ali, a young Roma, had a one-night stand with Dita’s gay friend Toni (Vladimir Tintor) and has been invited to stay.
As Dita and Sauda are a lesbian couple, Dita doesn’t protest too loudly, even if Toni is about 20 years older than Ali. The mischievous Mia also takes a liking to the carefree Ali. Don’t even bother trying to figure out who the other characters are in the house. That’s not important. What’s important are the relationships.
Dita and Sauda’s bond gets tested early on when we learn that Sauda has a serious illness, so serious that she forces Dita to promise her to take care of her children if she dies. Well, you don’t need a degree from the Sherlock Holmes Academy to know what happens.
Dita becomes a reluctant mother and even more reluctant wife to Toni in order to keep the family together. North Macedonia, where the film takes place, does not provide legal protection for same-sex couples. Homosexuality was outlawed in the country until 1996. For added tension, the Romani don’t exactly get the welcome wagon treatment in North Macedonia. The country is not alone in that regard. Sauda just happens to come from a Roma family, and she doesn’t react well to prejudice.
While Mia has no trouble adapting to this patchwork situation, the rebellious Vanesa does. In one of the film’s more stress-inducing scenes, she tells authorities she’s been kidnapped by a gay cult. Time for a “La Cage aux Folles” moment to prove the couple’s heterosexuality.
Yes, there’s a lot going on here, but Goran Stolevski, who wrote, directed, and edited the film and who was born and grew up in North Macedonia, proves he has an adept hand at making the plot work and the characters shine. Marinca, the Romanian star of “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” is a standout in that regard, though the film is more of an example of ensemble acting at its best.
One could run out of adjectives praising this film, but heartfelt might work the best. It also feels real as if you were eavesdropping on an actual family that’s not so much dysfunctional as it is disparate. How do people on the outside find their place inside? No easy answers here.
“Housekeeping for Beginners” won the Queer Lion award at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in 2023 and was the Macedonian entry for Best International Feature at this year’s Academy Awards. A valid argument could be made that it should have been nominated.
This is one of those rare films that, when it ended, I wanted to borrow a quote from “Oliver!”: Please, sir, I want some more.”
Bob Tremblay is the former film critic for the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham, Mass., and a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics.
‘Housekeeping for Beginners’
Rating: R for profanity and some sexual content
Language: Macedonian
Cast: Anamaria Marinca, Alina Serban, Samson Selim, Vladimir Tintor, Mia Mustafa, Dzada Selim
Director, writer, and editor: Goran Stolevski
Running time: 107 minutes
Where to watch: In theaters Friday, April 12
Grade: A
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