As a woman, your voice becomes one of the most sacred parts of yourself. If it is taken away from you, it is also the hardest thing to get back. Though so many of us go through this experience, it still remains something hard to talk about. Or, let alone talk about it, we rarely see a safe space made for even beginning the discussion. Films are one place where female filmmakers have, in recent years, taken the chance and spoken their truth. It is a beautiful thing for female viewers to witness. Feeling as though they can express themselves in the same way. With one film changing perceptions on a large scale.
A strong feature-length directorial debut is what writer-director Alex Burunova provides in Satisfaction. The writing process over eight years, but time only helped. Burunova draws on personal experience to create a piece focusing on the difficulties of taking back control of your voice. Trauma is a hard topic to discuss, but she allows for her protagonist to come back into her own after a traumatic experience changes her life and herself.
Lola (Emma Laird) and Philip (Fionn Whitehead) are two British music composers whom years after meeting in London are now both in the Greek isles. Currently struggling as they try to push through a block in both their creative and romantic lives. While Philip is in his own space, Lola experiences flashbacks of their first meeting. These memories combined with the arrival of beautiful tourist, Elena (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), force her to confront their past.
It is a silence lingering between Lola and Philip as she struggles to understand what happened in their past. Laird’s portrayal of a once-thriving musician who can no longer make music is innocent and pure. With a hidden trauma blocking her creativity and freedom, Laird is possessed in her role. Bringing the character to life in the softest way, allowing for a connection to be made between Lola and the viewer. She fully embodies the character, and more specifically allows for a clear distinction between both times in Lola’s life. A change that gives more to the interior meaning of how one instance can change the trajectory of your life and relationships.
Two timelines bring us through Lola’s experience. In her past, a queer young artist hungers for the high life. Obsessively looking for love, she finds Philip at a London music school. In the present, an unspoken rift looms over the pair as Lola struggles to connect with her partner, and herself. Burunova adds a touching situationship when Lola meets Elena. The connection developed between the characters not only helps Lola to remember who she is at heart, but what it was in her past that has kept her blocked from moving forward. As both women know their experience together will be brief, the audience begins to understand the importance one person can have on another individual.
By combining silence with Midori Hirano’s carefully crafted score, Burunova creates a stellar cinematic piece. Playing with colour she adds multiple layers to a complex character and her relationship with herself. In the cool and warm tones, a distinction is made between present and past. Not only that, but it also helps represent the state Lola is in through each of these moments of her life. The ideas expressed through the most simplest change, help showcase the film’s intentions as well as the genius ideas of its director.
It can never be easy for a filmmaker to tackle a subject as difficult as this form of trauma. But in her methods and careful choices, Burunova creates a film with themes perhaps not usually seen on the screen. In such a subtle way she invites the audience to connect with a character. Not through the loud and the entire experience, but as Lola uncovers what the past meant and how she feels now. It is creative and touching the reminder of how simple it is to forget who you are, but all the more powerful when you manage to take it back.
Satisfaction is such a colourful film in many ways. Filmmaking can do so much for the world and allows creatives to craft in their own way. With its world premiere at SXSW in Austin, Texas last March the film has most recently attended the 2026 Glasgow Film Festival ahead of BFI Flare. Each further screening of the film allows the world to see into the mind of writer-director Alex Burunova. Satisfaction has given her a chance to share such a heartfelt and touching story. It may not be easy to understand at first, but when you sit for a moment and truly think about it, there is nothing like what you will have seen.
Be sure to check out Hailey’s interview with Alex over on our YouTube here: Interview with Alex Burunova
