''Transgression'' () is a 2017 Bulgarian

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by Val Todorov, and based on his 2016 novel ''Daddy Dear''. It stars

Maria Bakalova Maria Valcheva Bakalova ( ; born 4 June 1996) is a Bulgarian actress. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Maria Bakalova, various accolades, including a Critics' Choice Movie Awards, Critics' Choice Movie Award, ...

, Rosen Penchev and Joanna-Izabella Varbanova, and follows an 18-year old (Bakalova) who has a relationship with an older has-been rock musician (Penchev).

Plot

18-year-old Yana gives an interview on a talk show. Baited and provoked by the irritating and arrogant host, she talks about her life and confesses that she is in an intimate relationship with Stoil, a rock musician who is twice her age. The studio audience, filled with indignation, starts commenting on Yana's revelation, and shows their lack of approval. This leads to a chase by a vigilante group of hunters and other complications. The film is divided into three parts: ''Him and Her'', ''The Others'', and ''The Hunt''. Its nonlinear narrative follows Yana's memories: wild parties, a motorcycle rally,

July Morning July Morning is an annual Bulgarian festival, celebrated on the night before and the first day of July. The festival is unique to Bulgaria but it is not universally observed in the country. In the days before the first day of July, people ...

, a threesome with her best girlfriend, beach-side bonfires, a crypto-gay

machista Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being "masculinity, manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1940s and 1950s and its ...

's birthday, a cheap tattoo shop, a posh spa hotel, wine tasting, pot smoking and transgressive sex.

Cast

as Yana *Rosen Penchev as Stoil *Joanna-Izabella Varbanova as Nina *Lazara Zlatareva as Kaka Lara

Release

The film premiered in Europe in 2017, and had its worldwide release on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

in 2021.

Reception

The film received several accolades including the Arthouse Feature Film Award at the Depth of Field International Film Festival and Best Actress at the Toronto Alternative Film Festival for Bakalova's role. Bakalova also received a nomination for Best Actress at the Queen Palm Film Festival.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt10626534 2017 films 2017 drama films 2010s coming-of-age drama films Bulgarian drama films 2010s Bulgarian-language films Films set in Bulgaria Films shot in Bulgaria