Sashenka

In the night, someone shoots an elderly couple in their sleep with a hunting rifle, leaving their twenty-year-old son, disabled and confined to a wheelchair, an orphan. The investigation reveals the life story of what seems at first glance to be an ordinary Soviet family. While still young, the couple lost their long-desired infant daughter. Later in life, the fate gives them a child, but he happens to be a boy. The mother's pathological desire to have a daughter becomes an obsession. The woman treats Sashenka as a girl, dresses him as a girl and buys him dolls. The father supports his wife in every way. This is how starts a dramatic and astonishing story of human vices and deviations.

Directed by Oleksandr Zhovna, Sashenka leans on a strong ensemble — Dmitry Nizhelsky, Oksana Burlay-Piterova, Milena Kompaniiets — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 2022.