A Reckoning With State-Sponsored Coercion
Slovakian filmmaker Ivan Ostrochovský’s latest feature, Only Beautiful Things to Look At, confronts the systemic, state-sponsored coerced sterilization of Romani women in 1980s Czechoslovakia. Co-written with Marek Leščák, the film juxtaposes the domestic life of a white hospital doctor against the stark, lived realities of the Roma community. It has drawn immediate scrutiny for an aestheticized approach to a human rights crisis that persisted well into the 21st century.
The Shadow of Systematic Abuse
Sterilization policies in Czechoslovakia were no accident; they were a long-standing state program designed to suppress the Romani population. These practices survived the fall of the communist regime, continuing across both the Czech and Slovak Republics into the early 2000s.
The Ethics of a Polished Lens
Ostrochovský’s narrative centers on Ingrid, a white doctor played by Anna Geislerová, who works at a hospital tasked with meeting government-mandated sterilization quotas. While the film attempts to humanize the victims through portraits of young Roma women, critics argue the focus on a white protagonist’s moral awakening creates a jarring disconnect.
Cinematographer Juraj Chlpík employs a polished, “beautiful” visual style that critics contend clashes with the gravity of the subject. By lingering on the refined home life of Ingrid and her husband, the film risks framing these atrocities as distant artifacts rather than the ongoing, systemic failures they were.
The Untold Dynamics of Survival
The film’s most complex moments emerge through a subplot involving two Romani sisters: Agata, an orderly played by Simona Boledovičová, and Jula, played by Eva Mores. Their story captures the intense pressures of state surveillance and reproductive control. Agata navigates the hospital hierarchy while Jula remains embedded in a community under siege.
The sisters’ friction highlights the nuances of survival during an era where procedures were often misrepresented in languages the patients did not fully understand. Critics have noted that this dynamic remains an underutilized element of the film’s broader message.
Production and Historical Legacy
- Subject Matter: The film addresses the systematic coerced sterilization of Romani women, a human rights violation that spanned decades in Czechoslovakia and its successor states.
- Directorial Approach: Ivan Ostrochovský utilizes a highly stylized visual language, which has sparked debate regarding the ethics of representing historical atrocities through a “soft-focus” or aestheticized lens.
- Structural Critique: The film’s narrative structure prioritizes the perspective of a white hospital employee, an approach that has been challenged for potentially sidelining the voices of the Romani women who were the primary victims of the state policy.
Worth a look