Filip Raczyński is a lot. But what he’s about to face is more than just about anyone can handle, not without breaking. It’s a good thing Proud‘s protagonist, played by Ignacy Liss, is made of extremely sturdy stuff then. Or at least, he must be if he can still party as hard as he does with all those narcotics flowing through his veins.
Karol Klementewicz’s Warsaw-set series begins with a corridor full of men taking their clothes off and quickly descends into a blur of pulsing lights and pulsating you-know-what in the kind of club you might associate more readily with Berlin.
This isn’t the Poland that Polish legislators want you to know about, but LGBTQ people exist in every walk of life, be it in your local gyms and shopping malls or in the orgy you stumble across when you arrive home after a weekend trip. That’s the reality Filip’s sister Anka (Sylwia Boroń) encounters after her brother decides to keep the party going in their house on Monday morning.
It’s the kind of shit you can get away with, or at least think you can get away with, when you’re a bleached-blonde model with soft, yearning eyes and a jawline made for TV. But Anka doesn’t care for any of that. Like Filip, she too survived the foster system growing up, and while the siblings were always there for each other, Filip is taking far more than giving at this point, leeching off Anka while she cares for her one-year-old at home.
That in itself would be an intriguing set-up, one that the first episode of Proud has a lot of fun with, even as Filip’s hedonistic brand of fun soon starts to catch up with him. Vodka and a bump for breakfast hits in the worst way possible when Filip vomits and passes out in his underwear while filming a commercial live on TV. It’s far from ideal, especially on the same day that Anka kicks Filip out for being such a fuck-up.
When his signature charm fails him, Filip retreats to his safe space, the club, but he passes out there too, desperately in need of rest. That’s not coming, though, because life is about to catch up to Filip in the most harrowing way possible.
It’s no spoiler to reveal that Anka dies at the end of the first episode. The entire premise of this series isn’t so much about Filip’s party lifestyle as it is the lifestyle he must give up following this tragedy to look after his niece, Tosia (Alicja Lewczuk). Had you not read up on the synopsis, you’d be forgiven for being surprised by this, especially for a show which starts with a naked Heimlich maneuver at work before that aforementioned orgy kicks off.
Klementewicz and co-writer Monika Pęcikiewicz handle these tonal shifts with what feels like ease, often in the same scene even, so the humor that’s especially striking early on doesn’t fade once tragedy hits. As such, scenes where Filip asks a friend at work to take a pic of his ass for Grindr don’t feel out of place in what could have just been a very morbid affair.
That’s not to say Proud forgoes the realities of what Anka’s death means for Filip. Realizing that Tosia’s father isn’t willing to step up, Filip eventually decides to become her legal guardian, because he knows exactly how hard the foster care system is firsthand, and he knows Anka wouldn’t have wanted that for her daughter.
The stress of having single fatherhood thrust upon you in your twenties hits from many fronts. Filip, allergic to responsibility of any kind, must now navigate the logistics of working and raising a child without a partner of his own to share the load. Chosen family plays a crucial role here, even if Filip sometimes takes them all for granted, but where they can’t help is when it comes to the severe systemic hurdles he must face as a wannabe gay father in Poland.
A solicitor tells Filip rather bluntly that he needs “to stop being gay for some time” if his petition is to be successful. There’s no malice in these words — it’s just a fact in Poland, a country where simply existing as queer can be difficult, let alone when it comes to demanding the rights that everyone else takes for granted.
Thankfully, Filip is surrounded by loved ones who are still willing to put up with his bullshit, and in another reality, they’d each be worthy of their own show too. Loyal makeup artist Kiki (Maria Sobocińska) has her own struggles, for example, trying and failing to find herself after being defined as a young mother for so long. And then there’s Olek (Kamil Studnicki), sweet, sweet Olek, who uses sass as a front to conceal pain and his own unrequited love for Felip.
Said love is easy to understand, because Filip might be a screw-up, but he’s still recklessly charming, an agent of chaos who’s long weaponized his perfectly sculpted face and body. Liss is phenomenal when it comes to masking Filip’s unspoken pain, just seconds away from breaking that roguish front at all times. This is one of those unsung performances that might not register with English–language award bodies, but will resonate deeply with anyone who does watch Proud.
And watch you should. Just as gorgeous as Filip is the craft that’s gone into this series, from the cinematic needle drops to every unforgettable moment of silence. When Filip kisses his sister in the morgue, leaving behind a smear of glitter from the club on her cheek, there is beauty to be found in the immense grief that takes hold.
Proud can be a lot at times, but it is delicate when it comes to the small moments that count. In the show’s refusal to sanitize its protagonist or give him a free pass, Klementewicz tells a very different kind of queer story, authentically depicting Filip’s flaws and hopes with a messy, yet undeniably vital viewpoint that deserves to be seen by more people.
Proud (★★★★☆) is streaming on HBO/Max. The season one finale is July 31. Visit HBOMax.com.
Jason De Puy, the RuPaul's Drag Race alum better known by his stage persona, Salina EsTitties, will compete on season 28 of the CBS reality competition Big Brother.
As EsTitties, De Puy competed on season 15 of Drag Race and season 11 of Drag Race All Stars, finishing sixth and ninth, respectively.
De Puy will compete out of drag on Big Brother -- although it wouldn't be surprising if Salina EsTitties made a brief appearance, as Courtney Act did in series 21 of the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother. According to Entertainment Weekly, De Puy is the first Drag Race contestant to compete on the American version of the reality show.
Yona Speidel is playfully coy when I bring up the final intriguing shot of season one of The Boroughs, a chilling new Netflix series set in a retirement village where not everything is as it seems.
Yes, I respond, I would like to know what that ending meant.
"We know what it means, but I can't say what it means," she says with a broad smile. "We've got to get people watching the show so that Netflix can give us another season."
The show, featuring a powerhouse cast that includes Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Dennis O'Hare, and Geena Davis, is built around a premise that balances poignancy with humor and scares with sobs. It almost begs for a second chapter.
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