Institute History
Description
Strangers is the story of a young girl whose life is changed dramatically by an unexpected pregnancy. Eva works at a gas station in the suburbs of a big city. She comes from a home where love and mutual understanding have long been lost, or at least forgotten. Her mother's strong personality completely dominates her father, who doesn't seem to care anyway.
Eva's pregnancy is the result of an intense but brief affair with her dance teacher, who is completely focused on his art and unable to take responsibility for a baby. She is on the verge of having an abortion when she learns that a human embryo is capable of recognizing sounds and therefore can interact with the outer world, almost as a conscious person would. This discovery completely changes the way in which Eva perceives herself and everything that happens in her world. In spite of the pressure put on her by her family, she decides to have the baby on her own.
The world of sounds plays the key role in the story. Eva develops an ability to hear barely recognizable, extremely distant sounds, which she believes can also be perceived by the child inside her. Gradually, she learns how to translate sounds into emotions, images, even colors, and in this way she shows the world to her unborn child. This almost mystic gift becomes her obsession as she starts communicating with the fetus, and the constant dialogue—seen by others as a lunatic's monologue—initiates a strange friendship between the two.
Eva's newly discovered sensibility affects every aspect of her life: her relationship with her family, her risky friendship with a young prostitute named Ivona, and with Michael, a mysterious figure who will become her lover and guardian angel at the same time. However, it has the greatest impact on her desire and ability to improve and accept herself. Her inner battle ends when she is able to fully accept "the stranger" inside her. Ironically, it is only then she finds out that giving birth to the child will put her own life in danger. Eva has to choose again. After everything she's gone through, is her real destiny to sacrifice her own life to save her child?