By Tamar Noort. A child is sleeping – in peace – and Radina silently closes the door. It’s an intimate family scene that opens Nadejda Kosevas’ film. It is the kick off for a film plot that can hardly outgun its banality: a mother is going to the store to prepare an omelette for her child. However, we are in Bulgaria in the year 1996.

After the downfall of the socialist regime and the first free elections in 1990, the country is in a sorry state - the economy can hardly keep up with the political changes that are occurring in all of Eastern Europe. However, Bulgaria is hit especially hard. Real earnings drop by 70 per cent, the standard of living decreases by 40 per cent - and the financial chaos culminates in the total collapse of the banking system in 1996. Hyper inflation is the consequence – and the grocery prices rise by dizzying 302 per cent.  Bread, eggs and milk are becoming increasingly expensive by the hour; the people can hardly afford basic foodstuffs.

This is where Nadejda Koseva places her film – and this is how her little story receives unexpected significance.  Radina’s shopping trip is turning into a tour de force – a matter of life and death. When Radina closes the door to her child’s room, she turns into an amazon – a warrior that is entering the battle in a very controlled way to reach her goal: an omelette for her child. However, people make mistakes and no matter how well you plan your moves, sometimes it's just not enough. Radina must gain the bitter experience that even the simplest action in everyday life cannot be completed if the outer circumstances don’t allow it.

With her character, Koseva explains how a person is affected by this powerlessness. Atress Svetla Tsotsorkova gives the character a stoic calmness – however, with every obstacle that gets in her way, the human breaks more and more through Radina’s armour. In only seven minutes, Koseva manages to grasp the emotional state of an entire nation.

Links

• OMELETTE (BG 2008. Nadejda Koseva)
• The Humane Within the Everyday Life – An interview with Nadejda Koseva
• From the Ruins Risen Newly – Tamar Noort about the Bulgarian film market