Director: Julia Kowalski
Writer: Julia Kowalski
Stars:Maria Wróbel, Roxane Mesquida, Wojciech Skibinski
Synopsis: In a remote village, Nawojka grapples with dark urges she believes stem from an ancestral curse. Her world shifts when Sandra moves in next door, offering a glimpse of freedom from her family’s rigid control.
Not every horror coming-of-age story about a distressed girl in a drowning town refers to Brian De Palma’s 1976 classic, Carrie. Still, the elements from said picture are smeared across the conceptually similar films after it. The lonely girl in a small, cold town who has secret abilities she can’t seem to control. A parent who neglects her and suppresses her mysticism. A set of bullies who wear down the young girl and end up as the catalyst for the impending tragedy. Lastly, an older mother-like figure who embraces the girl and helps her come face-to-face with her true self. These stories have been told time and time again. Yet these stories remain fascinating because skilled filmmakers reframe them through new perspectives and settings.
Julia Kowalski’s sophomore effort, Her Will Be Done (Que ma volonté soit faite, screening at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in the Quinzaine des cinéastes) is yet another example of a reinterpretation of this tale that remains truly fascinating because of its unique perspective, location, and horror influences. In the film, the girl with uncontrolled supernatural abilities is Nawojka (Maria Wróbel), a twenty-year-old who dreams of being free after spending her whole life working at the family farm. The lines “My mother knelt before Satan. The evil was in her. It is inside me too.” provide Her Will Be Done with a fiery introduction. Nawojka’s parents stare at a bonfire, bearing subtle, yet malevolent, grins on their faces, as though they seem ready to accept this evil in their souls, no matter the cost.
The flames rise, rise, and continue to rise, to the point where it swallows the screen. And when it does, the young Nawojka wakes up. Was it a dream or a memory? Whether it is one or the other, it doesn’t seem like this was the first time Nawojka has had this vision. Upon waking, it becomes clear how lonely she is in the small house with her father and two brothers, who act like wild animals at any moment. They are harsh and mean for no reason on some occasions and nonjudgmental in others. But there’s a particular disdain towards her from the two brothers, as if she’s guilty of their mother’s passing. While working at the farm one day, she notices a woman outside the window, Sandra (Roxane Mesquida, an underused French talent who should get more recognition).
Nawojka stares at her with much interest and curiosity, fascinated by the messy-haired, free-spirited wanderer. With the arrival of Sandra into her eyesight and later life, as the two connect, and who is deemed a witch by the locals, Nawojka begins to experience some trance-like episodes. During these trances, she can’t control herself and berates herself for things that aren’t her fault, like the insults thrown out at Sandra or her mother’s passing. These episodes are depicted in two forms, both of which call back to Luca Guadagnino’s reimagining of Suspiria. Either it is seeing Nawojka convulse as queasy, squeamish sounds and groans are heard, or hallucinogenic collages appear on screen, both of which are equally creepy and effective.
Kowalski lets the camera linger for enough time on the disturbing scenes to make the viewer uneasy, and nearly always she succeeds in doing so. Although there are sequences that are provocative because of the inclusion of murder of animals by euthanasia (not the only film at Cannes this year that does that) and brutal, cold-blooded killings, Kowalski is wise enough to distance her lens and not dwell on it; instead, the film cuts away, leaving the gore up to the imagination of the viewer and letting the crimson red spill out of the frame instead of in. The movie descends into madness as Nawojka and Sandra slowly connect and understand each other’s grievances, the pain and toll the city and its people have done to them.
One of the few moments of happiness happens when the two are together. But sooner rather than later, Kowalski makes the atmosphere feel darker and colder than before. The film will shift from the mundane to something fresh and distinctive because of her bravery in her imagery placement. Her Will Be Done, like Carrie, is a tale not solely about female independence but also female empowerment and the challenges of traditional gender roles. Kowalski explores the societal expectations placed on women in these male-dominated small towns as women struggle for autonomy and potential, embracing their unique abilities, literally and metaphorically. The film falters in sparse moments when the dialogue becomes too repetitive.
Similar scenes were being thrown one after the other, which tended to bother, specifically during its most horrific scenes. For example, the brothers’ bullying of Nawojka or Sandra tends to happen often. And most of those scenes are constructed in the same manner or contain similar dialogue. They are crucial to the other being told about women’s autonomy. However, I do feel there could have been a diverse way of exploring the sexist men’s dynamics instead of repeating the same routine. Nevertheless, I felt entranced by the other and its potent imagery because of Kowalski’s boldness and steady direction with the performances. Her Will Be Done can be considered one of the many in the vast landscape, although Kowalski and her team offer a different angle to a recurrently told story.
