The documentary portrays the lives of three women of different ages living in the village of Trzcianka in the Świętokrzyskie region. There is a gap of about 20 years between each woman: Maria is 66, Agnieszka is 43, and Monika is 26. Despite their age differences, their daily routines are strikingly similar: waking up, breakfast, work, cooking, watching TV series, and sleeping. Maria has accepted her fate and come to terms with it. Agnieszka tries to add variety to her monotonous life, while Monika believes there is no monotony in her life, claiming her daily rhythm is far from typical for a woman living in a village.
Time: Filming took place from October 2018 to May 2020.
Setting: The village of Trzcianka, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship.
Main characters:
Maria, 66 years old
Agnieszka, 43 years old
Monika, 26 years old
Duration: Short documentary film, 20 minutes.
In the film, I ask the main characters about their choice to live in the countryside. I observe them in their daily lives and reflect on how our place of residence, the community we grow up in, and cultural conditions shape our lives. I am also curious about the extent to which the choices of women living in rural areas are influenced by men—whether it’s their income, decisions, or social class.
The film is divided into three parts.
In the first part, we see the daily life of Maria. Her day begins with a trip to the store to buy groceries. Then, she lets her chickens and ducks out of the barn, prepares lunch, and watches her favorite TV series. The day ends with solving her favorite crossword puzzles.
The film opens with a wide shot from a window, showing Maria walking to the store—this is how she starts every day. Then, we quickly transition to a panorama of the village, including quick cutaways to the yard, which serves as the main setting. The cutaways to the yard are filmed from different angles to keep the audience engaged. These are brief, intended only to establish the setting. During some of the cutaway scenes, such as when three chickens are sitting together, the film's title, "Three Women of Different Ages", appears on the screen. The title displayed over the chickens is a subtle reference to rural women often being stereotyped as "domestic hens."
After the village scenes, Maria appears feeding the chickens. The entire process is shown, from scooping up grain to feeding the chickens, and may also include a shot of her collecting eggs from the coop. After finishing her work outside, Maria goes inside, prepares lunch, and serves it to her husband. An important moment highlights her serving her husband while he, for instance, lies down and does nothing as she carries out her tasks.
After cooking lunch, Maria finally has time for herself as her favorite TV series airs. During this scene, we hear a voiceover of her interview where she talks about her life in the village (unless the interview is played throughout the entire film).
In the evening, Maria, as always, solves crossword puzzles, which she never sends in. The film closes with shots of the village at night, falling asleep.
The next part of the film begins in the same way as the first, with the second protagonist also walking to the store. However, this time, she is not shopping but working as a shop assistant.
The camera then captures her entire workday, using a variety of shots: wide shots of the store, moments showing her constant movement, and contrasting her voiceover commentary with the background sounds of the store, such as the beeping of the cash register.
After the store scenes, we see her returning home and taking care of household chores: cleaning, doing laundry, and cooking. Once she gets home, there is no moment of rest. The film emphasizes how she is constantly busy while the men she lives with—her husband and sons—barely help her.
Her only respite comes when she is finally alone, allowing her to indulge in her passions.
Moving on to the next part, we are thrown into the vortex of the party - archival footage of the life of the third character, Monica, appears on the screen, it is a representation of her former life: before becoming a mother and wife, which she misses so much. Her statements from the interview about her longing for a life with parties may then appear in the background.
After the archival footage is presented, we have shots of her current life, where she enters a similar life to the other two heroines based on a rural routine. There are presented shots of her daily life, which is based on being a mother, from the off maybe her statements about longing, shots that show that she lives a little differently from the previous two heroines: here her husband is not lying down, but taking care of the child, although her grandmother says otherwise, our heroine has more time to rest, her husband works at home and supports the family, but she also plans to return to work after her maternity leave. Taking into account her whole day with less emphasis on patriarchy.
In the summary, the transition from the youngest character, who has her whole life ahead of her and wants to change something in the perception of rural women, lives a little differently than the other two predecessors, the transition to the oldest heroine, who looks at the twilight of her life and perhaps reflects on her youth - from the off, a statement from the youngest heroine suggesting that she is a confident woman who wants to live differently.
The summary is really a bracket that is the closure of the life cycle presented. My idea for a summary is also a portrait of a little girl who lives in the countryside to say what her name is, how old she is, where she comes from, what her dream is and what she wants to become in the future. That is, either an open ending, saying that our life is leveling our plans and childhood dreams, or a closed one saying a compositional buckle.