You are here:

Promise Me This

Name: Promise Me This
Director: Emir Kusturica
Released: 2007
Duration: 123 min

Representation Score

4.5/10

Fair

2007

Director

Emir Kusturica

Runtime

123 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Emir Kusturica’s work offers a refreshing departure from Anglo-centric storytelling by focusing on Balkan identity and communal chaos. The film effectively challenges traditional notions of heroism and legal order, replacing them with organic, though dysfunctional, kinship bonds. However, the film remains confined to traditional patriarchal structures. The central plot is driven by a male-centric mission, and the romantic elements adhere strictly to heterosexual patterns, limiting space for diverse identity expressions.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does Promise Me This have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The story focuses on heterosexual relationships, with the protagonist's goal being to find a wife to fulfill a patriarchal testament. There are no queer narratives present.

How does Promise Me This portray gender?

Fair

Gender roles are portrayed through traditional protector roles. Women face systemic exploitation from crime, while the plot is driven by a male-centric mission and patriarchal expectations.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Promise Me This?

Fair

The film highlights specific regional and ethnic identities, avoiding a globalized, multi-ethnic cast. Instead, it presents a deeply localized, non-Western, and rural perspective.

How does Promise Me This represent religion and culture?

Good

The film disrupts Western institutional values by prioritizing communal rituals and local social codes over formal laws and capitalist structures.

Does Promise Me This include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no focus on characters with physical or neurodivergent disabilities in the narrative.

Present on Screen

Strong cultural subversion that prioritizes communal ritual over Western legalistic norms.
Deeply embedded regional identity that offers a non-Western, rural perspective.
Effective use of localized social codes to drive a unique narrative structure.

Limited or Absent

Lack of representation for LGBTQ+ identities or non-assuming gender matches what was assigned at birth narratives.
Reliance on traditional patriarchal hierarchies and male-centric plot drivers.
Absence of characters representing physical or neurodivergent disabilities.

Official Synopsis

An old man named Zivojin Markovic, living in a remote village prays for his grandson Cane to go to the city, sell his cow and bring back a wife. In the city he is supposed to meet up with his grandfather's stepbrother, but this man is dead. Instead, he meets this man's two grandsons, two good-natured brothers who are nevertheless small-time criminals and experts in demolition. Cane soon clicks with these men, and also falls in love with a schoolgirl (Jasna), who he wants to marry as part of his testament with his grandfather. He gets involved in this girl's family affairs, rescuing both her and her mother from prostitution and gangsters headed by a man called Bajo, and the new group of people return to the small village in time to celebrate Zivojin's wedding to his neighbor, despite the gangsters' best efforts to stop the celebration, which results in a double wedding.

How are these scores produced? →