Inside 'Smoked Sauna Sisterhood'
There is something beautiful in grey November days. One of the Sundays spent at home, I cleaned my house, hoping it will help me to sort thoughts in my head. I’m not sure if it ever actually helps, but we all have ways of reconnecting with ourselves. For me that recipe always contains cleaning my space, lighting a scented candle and discovering new music (preferably more nostalgic than my mood). Perhaps it comes from being raised by my sentimental mother, but I do enjoy creating a moody environment for myself. I kept craving for some way of spiritual resurrecting and I quickly had a realisation that I haven’t been in a cinema on my own for a little while. ‘Smoked Sauna Sisterhood’ was in the back of my head for some time - it turned out there was one screening in the afternoon, in a small hidden cinema in Holborn. I didn’t spend too much time making a decision. An hour later I put on my warm, woollen sweater and headed out. There weren't too many people - a few couples, two elderly women, and a few people on their own. It surprises me every time, the way people go to the cinema alone. It's heartwarming that people enjoy reconnecting not only with art but also with themselves.
To be completely fair, I didn’t have any idea what the movie was about - all I’ve heard before I’ve seen it was ‘women talking in the sauna’. That was enough to convince me. And essentially it’s true - it is about women, and it is about sauna. But it's also so much beyond that. It felt like my whole life had flashed before my eyes during this hour and a half. Everything that relates to what it means to be a woman. I can’t say I’ve never heard the stories that were told in this movie, but I think no story has been missed, that any woman has not gone through in some way before. Sauna as a spiritual space of direct and metaphorical ‘washing off’ all that’s accumulated in our bodies and minds is an important ritual in many cultures. Here, we’re inside a sauna in Estonia, with a group of women in different moments of life, discussing what they’re going through. From sickness, identity, sexuality, relationship with their mothers, sisters, friends and men to their experiences with abuse and disorders, Smoked Sauna Sisterhood is going to touch each and every woman. What has really moved me and I don’t want to give spoilers, so I will just say that it was towards the end of the movie when I noticed one of the men in the audience drowning in tears. The first thing that came to my mind was that men are often still oblivious of the fact how much the system is on their side. Many of them are not being raised in a way to understand what we - women, sisters, daughters, wives, mothers - have to go through everyday. And it’s not an exaggeration. I think there is still an urgent need of spreading awareness about daily concerns and issues, we, women, have to deal with. And the director and writer Anna Hints with the whole amazing team of Smoked Sauna Sisterhood did it in a brutally honest but very beautiful way.
read on substack
There is something beautiful in grey November days. One of the Sundays spent at home, I cleaned my house, hoping it will help me to sort thoughts in my head. I’m not sure if it ever actually helps, but we all have ways of reconnecting with ourselves. For me that recipe always contains cleaning my space, lighting a scented candle and discovering new music (preferably more nostalgic than my mood). Perhaps it comes from being raised by my sentimental mother, but I do enjoy creating a moody environment for myself. I kept craving for some way of spiritual resurrecting and I quickly had a realisation that I haven’t been in a cinema on my own for a little while. ‘Smoked Sauna Sisterhood’ was in the back of my head for some time - it turned out there was one screening in the afternoon, in a small hidden cinema in Holborn. I didn’t spend too much time making a decision. An hour later I put on my warm, woollen sweater and headed out. There weren't too many people - a few couples, two elderly women, and a few people on their own. It surprises me every time, the way people go to the cinema alone. It's heartwarming that people enjoy reconnecting not only with art but also with themselves.
To be completely fair, I didn’t have any idea what the movie was about - all I’ve heard before I’ve seen it was ‘women talking in the sauna’. That was enough to convince me. And essentially it’s true - it is about women, and it is about sauna. But it's also so much beyond that. It felt like my whole life had flashed before my eyes during this hour and a half. Everything that relates to what it means to be a woman. I can’t say I’ve never heard the stories that were told in this movie, but I think no story has been missed, that any woman has not gone through in some way before. Sauna as a spiritual space of direct and metaphorical ‘washing off’ all that’s accumulated in our bodies and minds is an important ritual in many cultures. Here, we’re inside a sauna in Estonia, with a group of women in different moments of life, discussing what they’re going through. From sickness, identity, sexuality, relationship with their mothers, sisters, friends and men to their experiences with abuse and disorders, Smoked Sauna Sisterhood is going to touch each and every woman. What has really moved me and I don’t want to give spoilers, so I will just say that it was towards the end of the movie when I noticed one of the men in the audience drowning in tears. The first thing that came to my mind was that men are often still oblivious of the fact how much the system is on their side. Many of them are not being raised in a way to understand what we - women, sisters, daughters, wives, mothers - have to go through everyday. And it’s not an exaggeration. I think there is still an urgent need of spreading awareness about daily concerns and issues, we, women, have to deal with. And the director and writer Anna Hints with the whole amazing team of Smoked Sauna Sisterhood did it in a brutally honest but very beautiful way.
read on substack