Beautifully photographed, Laura Bispuri’s mesmerising film concerns an Albanian girl who according to local tradition chooses to take an oath to never love, so that she may live as a man.

A gently unfolding bilinear narrative allows us to simultaneously follow the young Hana as she becomes Mark – and the slightly older Mark who seems likely to revert back to being Hana.

Universal in its themes and intimate in its focus, ‘Sworn Virgin’ is a quietly uncompromised glimpse into a culture so patriarchal it will certainly seem alien to most westerners.

Whether the backdrop is an epic Albanian landscape or a modern Italian city, rising star Alba Rohrwacher commands our attentions with her perfectly pitched-performance.

Sworn Virgin
★★★★★