The Dress (Sukienka) is a 2020 short film (30 minutes) from Poland, directed by Tadeusz Lysiak.
Julia is a cleaning lady who cleans the bedrooms in a rather low-down truck stop motel somewhere in Poland. She is also a little person, who every day has to deal with social stigma and mockery. Hers is a rather grim life that doesn't seem to involve much more than playing slot machines in the hotel bar when she's not working, and talking with her only friend, fellow cleaning lady Renata.
Julia is a little person but she is also a person, with all a human being's natural needs and urges, including a sex drive. She confesses to Renata that she is still a virgin. (It's not clear how old the character is supposed to be, but the actress was 30.) However, one day an affable truck driver named Bogdan chats her up. Will Julia find love?
Tropes:
- Auto Erotica: Julia has degrading sex with Bogdan in the cab of his truck.
- Domestic Abuse: Alluded to in a candid comment from Renata, who says that if Julia hooks up with Bogdan, hopefully he won't beat her "like my Durek."
- Downer Ending: Julia's intimate moment with Bogdan turns into humiliating, degrading sex after he shows his true colors. She is left just as lonely as before, possibly even more so. Just to top things off, Julia opens a door to one of the rooms in the motel, only to find a woman who seems to be a local prostitute naked on a bed, emphasizing that others have sad, depressing lives as well.
- Dwarfism in Media: Julia, a little person who is desperate for physical intimacy, goes out on a date with a normal-sized man.
- Fan Disservice: The film ends with Julia knocking on a door in the hotel and opening it, only to find a woman who is apparently a prostitute, lying on the bed, naked. The woman is quite attractive but the moment only underlines the vulnerability and degradation of someone else's unfortunate life.
- Flipping the Bird: The shitty comments that Julia has to take every day are demonstrated when a man in the bar sees Julia smoking a cigarette and playing slots, and says "You will never grow if you smoke." She flips him the bird.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Julia says this word-for-word (in Polish, anyway), sobbing as she tells Renata that she yearns for normal arms and legs.
- Letting Her Hair Down: Julia, who previously has had her hair pulled back like one might expect of a cleaning lady, lets her hair down before taking her clothes off and crawling into the bed that Bogdan has vacated.
- Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Julia, who is lonely and who is a virgin, is shown masturbating in her room at night.
- Mood Whiplash: Julia is having sex with Bogdan in the cab of his truck. Romantic Rain is pattering outside, a love song plays on the soundtrack, and it all seems quite intimate. Then out of nowhere Bogdan slams poor Julia onto the steering wheel of the truck and starts brutally penetrating her, his hand on her throat. When a startled Julia says "Bogdan, softer," he snarls back "Shut up, midget!" Even the romantic song stops playing. After he climaxes Bogdan says "I'm a little ashamed of myself." Julia leaves the cab crying.
- Romantic Rain: Rain can be heard pattering outside as Julia has sex with Bogdan in the front seat of his truck, setting a romantic mood—until the Mood Whiplash moment, that is.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Julia, who has spent the whole film looking drab like one might expect a cleaning lady to look, does her hair and puts on makeup and lipstick for her date with Bogdan. He's impressed.
- Toplessness from the Back: Julia strips naked before crawling into the bed that Bogdan recently left.
