Sweat review – the loneliness of the social media influencer

Magnus von Horn's contrived Polish drama about a fitness guru promises more in shock and character than it delivers

In theory, it should be possible to create a drama about a social media influencer and motivational fitness celebrity that isn't all about the hidden loneliness and shame of her shallow existence. It should be possible to show such a person being a huge hit in public and perfectly content in private. But this movie from Polish director Magnus von Horn pretty much goes for route one, and despite some interesting touches, it promises much more in terms of shock and character insight than it ever really delivers, with some contrived and unconvincing plot transitions.

Sylwia (Magdalena Kolenik) has 600,000 followers for the Instagram account on which she obsessively posts, detailing every aspect of her day as a successful single woman, running colossally popular fitness events with her beefcake male assistant Klaudiusz (Julian wieewski). He clearly has a major thing for her, though at one crucial moment he shows a very implausible kind of restraint. She is living in a sleek apartment with her adorable dog, Jackson; there's a new fitness DVD out and everything seems to be going well.