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Synopsis

Julian is a middle–aged gay poet whose mother, an artist, has just died. While grieving her death, he sorts through his mother's paintings, revisiting a bittersweet past: his parents' marriage overshadowed by recollections of war, and his own romantic affair with Roman, his lover. Set in post-war communist Poland, Breaking the Silence: A Story in Paintings meanders through Julian's memories of his relationship, which unfolds in many ways like the immortal tale of Romeo and Juliet. Just like Shakespeare's young lovers, the two young men, always meeting in secret, hear the nightingales at night and the larks at dawn. Unlike the storied lovers from high class Verona, however, Julian and Roman's love unravels in bleak surroundings: a public park, a grim little apartment, and a primeval forest. As Julian journeys through the reality of his youth, he challenges the tyrannical postwar censorship that surrounded and strangled both art and gay relationships. His tale is a testimony to the strength of the human spirit to survive—and even thrive—in an oppressive political regime.