It seems choosing between men has been a running theme recently with Polish content on the streaming platform Netflix. Just last month, we saw it in “A Girl and an Astronaut,” the Netflix original series, and let’s not forget everybody’s favorite adult “I lost every cell of feminism in my body” film, “365 days.” Unfortunately, just like its predecessors, “Tonight You’re Sleeping With Me” doesn’t hit the mark very well. Apart from being confused about what it’s trying to convey, it barely allows its characters to grow and think!
Additionally, we don’t really know what the age difference is between Nina and Janek because it’s never directly mentioned, but the fact that he was in high school and she was a practicing journalist makes it quite alarming, to say the least. If you’re looking for romantic feels, you may want to skip “Tonight You’re Sleeping With Me,” but if you want something running in the background, then sure, it’s definitely more manageable than the plethora of content on streaming platforms right now. Let’s jump into spoilers.
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In ‘Tonight You’re Sleeping With Me’ Film?
Nina is in a dry marriage with her husband, Maciek. They have two daughters named Lena and Zuzia. Maciek is not very interested in Nina’s thoughts and ideas but rather stays at work more often than he should without helping her with the kids. Nina’s father notices Maciek’s lack of dedication and even points it out to her, but she defends him by saying, ‘he has his own ways of loving her.’ At work, Nina is suddenly faced with her ex-lover Janek. He’s just returned from Amsterdam. She’s taken aback by his presence all of a sudden, and to add to it, he’s working directly under her (please tell us something new).
Maciek visits Iceland every year for a month to take a break from work and let loose. Usually, this trip is in the month of August, but this time he has decided to do it early when Nina is very busy with a new project. Maciek doesn’t seem to understand the trouble and goes ahead with his plans anyway, leaving Nina with a lot of time to spend with her younger ex-lover. As they spend more time together, Nina realizes how estranged she is from her husband. When their daughter Zuzia gets sick, Nina has no pills to give her because Maciek has packed the entire first aid kit (I don’t even know what father would do this, but okay). So, this makes for the perfect excuse for Janek to come home and spend time with her two daughters. The older one, Zuzia, doesn’t like Janek, but Lena gets along with him just fine. When Maciek realizes that Nina is asking a stranger for help, he calls her mom over. Nina has a difficult relationship with her mom, too, so she’s not very happy that she’s around, edging her to spend more time in the company of Janek. Finally, Nina gives in to her desires and sleeps with Janek. Who will she choose in the end?
‘Tonight You’re Sleeping With Me’ Ending Explained – Will Janek Be Nina’s Final Choice?
Before we actually discuss the ending of the film, let us take this chance to muse over why the title of this film is some random dialogue that seems forced into this film. Now that that’s out of the way let’s continue. Nina breaks down and tells her mother that she’s in love after ending things with Janek. We don’t entirely know how far Janek and her relationship went in the past, but they must’ve broken up because he left for the Netherlands. Her mother tells her that family is important, and if she leaves her family, many people will be hurt, but if she doesn’t leave, she will be the only one hurting. Her father, on the other hand, tells Nina that he, too, was in a similar position to hers but chose to stay, and that didn’t do them any good. Through her own example, he makes it clear that children of such parents would not be happy in such a family. Nina then goes back to Janek and accidentally calls Maciek while making love with Janek.
Maciek overhears the whole thing and ends up utterly shattered. He had left early for Iceland because he knew something was wrong in the relationship and thought that a break could help him understand how to mend things. Nina has decided to leave Maciek, especially now that he knows the truth. She tells Janek before leaving that she doesn’t want to end things with Maciek through a telephonic conversation, so she heads to Iceland to tell him in person.
On the day of her arrival, Maciek finds a man fallen into a crevice. He tells the rescue team that he can’t wait there because his wife will be arriving from Poland, but instead of leaving after giving them the address, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Maciek is able to get down and save the man’s life, but while climbing back up, he has an accident of his own. Nina arrives at the hospital to find Maciek in a coma. She tells Janek that she is staying back in Iceland. Janek feels absolutely betrayed by Nina. He cuts her off abruptly and doesn’t wait to see why she’s staying back. Finally, he shows up at the hospital, apologizing for being hot-headed. He doesn’t want to end things that way and tells Nina that he will always be there for her, but for now, he’s giving her some space.
After some time, when Maciek finally wakes up from his sleep, he looks at Nina and expresses how he misses her and still loves her. However, this doesn’t bring an end to their problems, as the couple soon realizes that Maciek has become paralyzed on one side. Nina is evidently shaken by the tragic news, and “Tonight You’re Sleeping With Me” ends with her walking out of the hospital. There are two ways this can be interpreted, since it is quite open-ended. For one, it may imply that Nina has decided to stay back with her family for Maciek’s sake, feeling bad about his paralysis. Or it could mean Nina has decided to choose herself (oh, it feels like just yesterday we saw this same thing). This may be a way to introduce a sequel sometime in the future. We sure hope that’s a no, and it was just a way to creatively end a rather boring and repetitive story.
