Clara When She Went Away Analysis

I think Clara returned to her hometown for closure. She clearly has a lot of unresolved feelings regarding her experience during the Holocaust. Early in the film, we see Clara examining the very same fence where her daughter Ava was shot down by Nazi soldiers. It’s in this moment we see her reexamine the emotional scars that her experience has inflicted upon her. Not long after she makes her way out to Amelia’s and ask her if she ever had a child, implying that she meant to ask if she ever had a son by her deceased husband Artur. I think ultimately, Clara is in Warsaw once again to face her demons and put an end to any of the lingering questions she developed after her time hiding from prosecution. By showing Clara hunting for answers it serves as a narrative tactic for the filmmakers. They manage to

Emilia was her family’s only hope, and her farm was somewhat of a sanctuary. It provided a place of safety while the outside world went to hell. Directly outside the confines of Emilia’s property, we saw that Jewish people were being murdered in the forest. Clara realizes that if it means sacrificing her husband’s monogamy to prevail, then that’s what she’ll do. I think she rejects him at the time of confrontation in Emilia’s home because again she realizes that deep down that’s what Emilia wanted. She wanted to be the only woman in Artut’s life. Aside from that, I think Clara really did lose interest in Artur after his disloyalty. He didn’t originally sleep with Emilia for survival, he did so out of his own unfaithfulness. In 1983 her opinion has changed. Clara remembers Artur as someone she loved. This is apparent when she breaks down crying discussing Artur’s self-sacrifice to prevent the Nazi’s from killing her. I believe Clara has realized somewhere along the way that extreme situational circumstances can bring out the worst in