Botoxx

Botoxx (Botoks, 2017) is Patryk Vega's Polish drama you can watch online on iFILM. It never leaves the hospital, where blood, sweat and tears are routine and four women each carry their own storyline.

Daniela starts as a paramedic riding calls with her brother Darek, then a run of cosmetic procedures reshapes her into a hard-edged pharma rep. Magda, an OB-GYN who performs abortions, falls pregnant herself and collides head-on with her department head, her job on the line. Surgeon Patrycja's tidy life caves in the moment she learns of her husband's affair. And Beata, after losing her fiancé in a motorcycle crash, numbs the grief with opioids she steals off the ward.

Vega, a name known for provocation in Polish cinema, works without half-tones: discrimination, the pressure to mother, the chase for youth, the fight to choose for yourself. Olga Bołądź, Agnieszka Dygant and the rest hold more than two hours at full tension. Blunt, sometimes pushing the line, not for the squeamish. Stream Botoxx online on iFILM.