Character Relationship Map: Beginning

Characters

• Yana (played by Ia Sukhitashvili) — protagonist

  Yana is the emotional and narrative center of the film, a woman married to David within a patriarchal religious community. After the Kingdom Hall is firebombed, she suffers increasing isolation, sexua...

• David (played by Rati Oneli) — protagonist

  David is Yana's husband and a Jehovah's Witness religious leader. He reports the firebombing, seeks church funding to rebuild the Kingdom Hall, and leaves Yana with Giorgi. Although he later suggests...

• Giorgi (played by Saba Gogichaishvil) — supporting

  Giorgi is Yana and David's son, whom David leaves alone with Yana while seeking support for rebuilding the Kingdom Hall. He participates in a baptism, and later Yana makes him drink a smoothie contain...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Yana → David (Romantic Wife) — Their marital bond becomes increasingly estranged as Yana feels unheard and unsupported.

  The plot explicitly identifies Yana as David's wife. Their marriage is central to Yana's emotional deterioration and David's failure to understand her...

• David → Giorgi (Family Father) — David's fatherhood is placed under extreme strain by the reported poisoning of Giorgi.

  The plot describes Giorgi as Yana and David's son. David is present in the family home and reacts when Yana says she has killed their child.

• Yana → Giorgi (Family Mother) — Yana is Giorgi's mother, and their relationship becomes central to the film's devastating final act.

  Yana is left alone with their son Giorgi, and later makes him drink a smoothie containing many pills.

Story Analysis

Yana's collapse unfolds as religious, marital, institutional, and personal structures fail to acknowledge her suffering.

Plot Progression

1. Ashes Under The Faith — The Kingdom Hall is firebombed, and Yana's faith in her religious life begins to collapse. David focuses on reporting the attack and rebuilding the institution.
2. The False Investigator — A supposed detective invades Yana's privacy and sexually violates her. When she seeks help, the police deny that he ever arrived.
3. Inherited Wounds — Yana visits her mother and hears a story about childhood exile and domestic violence. David returns, but the family home offers no meaningful refuge.
4. A Voice Not Believed — David listens to the recording of the questioning and rejects Yana's account of rape. Religious ceremonies continue while their marriage becomes emotionally severed.
5. The Unthinkable Smoothie — David proposes a move to Tbilisi, but Yana gives Giorgi a pill-filled smoothie. She then tells David that she has killed their child.