‘Bebia, à mon seul désir’ Review: Artful Visuals Overwhelm This Georgian Film’s Promising Premise
Jay Weissberg There are many good ideas in writer-director Juja Dobrachkous’s feature debut, which is why it’s doubly frustrating she seems not to have had a strong counselor to help reign in all the self-indulgence. One can start with the title, “Bebia, à mon seul désir,” a famously ambiguous motto featured on a medieval tapestry which roughly translates to “to my only love” today: Why have a French title when the entire film is in Georgian and Russian, with no Gallic resonances (the tapestry is also never referenced)?The story itself is great: A teenage model returns to Georgia for her horrid grandmother’s funeral, and is told she needs to follow an ancient ritual to guide the deceased’s soul from where she died to her burial place.