'Accept Our Sincere Apologies' Courtesy of IFFR Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Life without love and connections can be a cage of loneliness. And so can a hotel, even if it is a decadent luxury hotel in Venice full of people. Accept Our Sincere Apologies, the kaleidoscopic and at times dream-like second feature from writer-director Juja Dobrachkous (Bebia, à mon seul désir), takes us inside such a hotel and on a kaleidoscopic, visceral, and surreal journey. The black-and-white thriller/drama, world premiering in the Harbour strand of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on Jan. 31, follows general manager Eva, who fulfills guests' every wish and ends up drawn to an enigmatic woman known as the Contessa. Once a sanctuary, the hotel has become a cage that both women long to escape. Related Stories TV Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Dons 'Heated Rivalry' Fleece Jacket, Says 2SLGBTQ+ Rights Are "Under Threat" Movies Mohammad Rasoulof Expresses "Deep Shared Grief" About "Mass Murder" in Iran Indeed, beneath the surface of Eva's composed exterior is a troubled soul, struggling with guilt, trauma and demons that she is trying to keep at bay. And its logline mysteriously asks: "Even if death turns you away, what then? Are you finally truly free?" IFFR's website calls the film "a hypnotic gothic fantasy that seduces and unsettles." The film features a cast of mostly non-professional actors. Krista Kosonen from Finland stars as the Contessa, while Polish twins Oskar Grzelak and Kacper Grzelak portray Eva and a ghostlike vision of her stillborn twin. Auteur Dobrachkous, who was born in the USSR and since leaving Moscow has lived in Paris, Los Angeles and London before settling in Venice, wrote the screenplay and directed and produced Accept Our Sincere Apologies. Cinematography was handled by Veronica Solovyeva, and editing by Andrey Klychnikov. Atoms & Void is handling sales on the Twice a Day production. Dobrachkous, who is also an author, talked to THR about her love for storytelling in black and white, casting twins as Eva, and her plans for a film based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and another film about a snobbish Italian aristocrat. The filmmaker shared that she usually has several stories in her head and in the works at the same time, but she felt this was the right time for Accept Our Sincere Apologies. "I usually find that it is time for one story because it is more disturbing for me," she told THR. "Right now, the world is such a strange place where I feel absolute solitude and loneliness, even in crowded places. I feel this leaking of identity from me." The film is therefore set in a place full of people, focusing on two who struggle in different ways. "This story about a hotel in Venice and the maze that it and the city are was kicking and stretching me from the inside," Dobrachkous shared. "There are completely different types of people from different countries, languages, and with different problems, and it's like a huge machine. I seriously believe that a hotel can chew you up and spit you out as a completely different you. You can become a different type of person, even during a few days in a hotel. Some people love to do that. Some people can't stand it." Dobrachkous wondered what a manager, who is part of this huge mechanism, would do "without an understanding of who she is and what she's doing," she recalled. "She's just a part of the machine. So, what would happen if she met someone who is the complete opposite, and what kind of sparks could they feel? What is it? Love, not love?" The contessa comes across like a fountain of social energy and love at first sight. But when getting closer to her, it becomes clear that she is also more aimless and less balanced than she seems. "The theme that I hope to touch on with the film is this loss of identity and loneliness in the world right now," Dobrachkous told THR. Eva is serving the hotel and its guests but is in need of attention and care herself. The casting of the role proved challenging. "I needed someone with a sense of 'I don't know who I am and I'm looking for something. Am I machine or not? Do I have emotions?' So, I wanted to find someone who is somewhat unrecognizable, something like an alien creature," the filmmaker recalled. "I was actually telling my casting people that I am looking for this alien." When they found the Grzelak twins, "I was completely 'Wow, this is what I need!'," the director recalls. "And Oskar and Kacper were these amazing aliens when they came to Venice. You can't surprise Venice a lot, but the are so tall and had this wow factor and really grabbed the attention of everyone around them." Except for one cast member, the actors were non-professionals, similar to Dobrachkous' first feature. "I seriously be