The Gentle Indifference of the World

The title of Kazakh director, Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s recent film, which recently premiered at Cannes, echoes Albert Camus’s The Stranger, and navigates us through existential contemplations on the impossibilities of life. After her father dies, Saltanat’s mother sends her to the city to marry a man who has agreed to pay off her father’s debts. In a red dress, a small suitcase, and yellow parasol in hand, she sets out through the rural landscape where she is joined by Kuandyk, her loyal admirer. Discovering that city men do not keep their word, Kuandyk does everything he can to help Saltanat raise the money she needs, but soon runs into trouble. Desolately poor, and left alone to face the obstacles ahead, they do not give up – come what may.