A Room of My Own

A common WLW film plot is that of a woman whose life has centered or been controlled by men setting out on her own and self actualizing. Also, somewhere along the way, she gets to kiss a woman, obviously. A Room of My Own is the first film of this type I’ve seen from the country of Georgia. But as a 2022 movie, it’s far from the first film I’ve seen globally with such a premise. It’s not really A Room Of My Own’s fault, but I do wish that filmmakers would be more aware of overly common stories like this and do more to differentiate their own take.

Tina has an ex-husband and an out-of-town boyfriend, neither of which help her find a place to live during the COVID pandemic. She finds a room with Megi, a confident party girl who shocks Tina with her casual nudity and sexuality. Tina plans to only stay for a month, before moving in with her boyfriend. This is less than ideal for Megi. For Tina, this is the first time she has ever needed her own money. This means she has to find a job for the first time. But as the month goes on, Tina’s relationship with her boyfriend and future place of residence is thrown into doubt. While Tina continues to learn how to exist without relying on a man in her life, she and Megi develop a friendship that becomes more than that after a drunken night.

One thing A Room of My Own has going for it is that Tina has a more interesting backstory than many protagonists in similar films. Learning why her husband is an ex and where he is now are genuinely interesting revelations. Plus, it shows a growing level of trust and closeness when she reveals such stories to Megi. That being said, perhaps too much of the movie focuses on Tina’s life before the film’s first scene. It takes over an hour before Tina begins moving forward instead of the film filling in her backstory.

The title A Room of My Own evokes Virginia Woolf’s classic feminist text, A Room of One’s Own. This direct reference makes me more critical of the romance plot of this film. Sure, it’s more than possible to self-actualize while having a romance of someone with any gender. But Woolf’s text and a theme of this movie is very much about Tina learning independence. I am not sure falling directly from the relationship with her boyfriend into a relationship with her roommate is Tina’s best path. Just because Megi is also a woman doesn’t make that relationship inherently empowering or feminist. Tina still hasn’t seemed to spend any of her adult life romantically unattached. And I worry what would happen if/when she and Megi hit a major relationship snag. This is not something the film covers.

The most interesting things about the film are those elements which are unique to A Room of My Own. Namely, its setting. It definitely is interesting to see what similar film plots look like in different countries. A Room of My Own being set in Georgia is unique to me as a non-Georgian viewer. I was interested to see how unmarried and queer women live and work in a country I don’t often think about. The film is also set during the COVID pandemic, which was likely a necessary choice but does also render it fairly unique. COVID is more of a backdrop than the true focus, though. One thing I wanted the film to deal with more specifically was the juxtaposition of there being a pandemic and Tina losing a family member to the virus while Megi seems to throw a lot of non-socially distanced parties.

If you haven’t seen an abundance of women self-actualizes and also kisses a woman films, sure, you might as well see A Room of My Own. It’s as good as most in this subgenre. If you’ve already seen enough where that plot sounds superfluous to you, I cannot say that A Room of My Own is a film to seek out on its individual merits. This is a fine film, but not one to prioritize over any other movie in this subgenre.

Overall rating: 5.8/10

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