‘I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming’ Review: A Ukrainian Trans Man and His Wife Face Excruciating Choices in a Sensitive, Sensuous Drama

The film from German director Isabelle Stever and her Ukrainian screenwriter wife Anna Melikova will play in the New York Film Festival after its debut in Locarno.

A sex worker and a call centre employee forge an ambiguous relationship in a film of strong feelings In a tiny crumbling Mumbai apartment two women move around each other, squeezing into the kitchen to cook, or past one another in the hallway. The cramped space hems them in – just as society limits their choices. That

“The reality changed our plans,” explains Ukrainian writer Anna Melikova of her new screenplay “I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming.” She is seated next to her wife Isabelle Stever, the director of their new film, at the Locarno Film Festival. Their second creative collaboration after the Berlinale premiering “Grand Jeté” (2022)