Present-day Poland is by no means a safe haven for the LGBT community; Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa has recently stated unapologetically that gay members of the Polish parliament should literally sit behind a wall at meetings. This mood of intolerance informs Tomasz Wasilewsky’s beautifully rendered Floating Skyscrapers, in which a budding bromance between hunky competitive swimmer Kuba and dreamy pretty boy Michal builds into a true love that threatens their society’s heteronormative status quo.

Kuba and Michal’s first meetings take place behind the closed door of a gymnasium toilet stall, where wordless blowjobs are all that the ostensibly straight swimmer will allow of his eager-to-please admirer. Later, the two share a joint and conversation at a trendy art opening also attended by Kuba’s girlfriend, Sylwia, who is surprisingly cool with her man having a little fun on the side. As Kuba and Michal dive headlong into a passionate affair, however, Sylwia — along with boys’ parents — demands that the couple separate. Soon, all are drowning in the deep end of love, lust, and repression.

Eliciting strong performances from his frequently nude leads, Wasilewski conveys the inner torment and external physicality of his characters through hypnotic pacing, his sensitive direction attuned to the myriad nuances of forbidden desire.