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A very believable couple take a hike along the remote and icy coastline to test whether it’s make or break time in Maria Zbaska’s charming two-hander

The endgame of a relationship – or maybe the crisis from which the relationship will emerge reinvigorated – is the subject of this likable, low-key two-hander from Polish film-maker Maria Zbaska. A couple is in crisis; one half is musician Zofia Chabiera who is making her confident acting debut as Wanda, bored and aimless, feeling those first intimations of mortality as people in their late 30s tend to; her unused and thwarted passion is beginning to curdle within her.

Wanda is in a stagnant relationship with Jan, played by Marcin Sztabinski, a heavy-set guy who maybe wasn’t quite as heavy-set when they first got together; he runs a bike repair shop, a situation to which he has dwindled having once dreamed of biking around the world.

Stars: Marta Krol, Marcin Sztabinski, Marieta Zukowska, Janusz Chabior, Olaf Marchwicki | Written and Directed by Piotr Ryczko

Horror has always been impressive at how it handles mental health in its movies and shows. Most recently movies like The Babadook and Hereditary have shown how peoples mental health has deteriorated after a trauma in their life. And I believe in both movies, and several others in the genre, this is handled extremely well. I Am Ren might not explain or show any trauma immediately but it does go down a similar route to these films, albeit in a more sci-fi orientated way.

The main science fiction element of the film comes from the lead characters belief that she is an android. As expected this isn’t simple. No-one around her seems to agree with her, including her husband and her son. Is he the victim in an abusive relationship, are situations...