Tenebrae

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth

In 1977, Stephen King wrote «Rage». Then, in the end of the 1980s, the US suffered a number of high school shootings and hostage takings, inspired by the novel. Shocked by such similarities, Stephen King decided let Rage fall out of print in the United States. In 1982, Dario Argento made a film with a similar theme.

Almost everyone likes to read or watch a bloody thriller, detective or action story. We do it for the sake of getting some relaxation or pleasure. The quality of such films or books is judged by the graphic details. Nevertheless, when you are reading in a subway or turning on a TV, have you ever thought what was the source of inspiration for the author was? Was it written or shot with the real blood or it was merely a byproduct of a sick mind?

Dario Argento doesn’t give us the straight answer. One of the main themes of Tenebrae is a work of a subconsciousness. The Director is interested in inner fears, how the victim could turn in the hunter and vice versa? How a law abiding citizen could turn into the ruthless murderer? Tenebrae asks us – was it books which turn us to murder or is it a specific murderer’s gene, which sits into some of us since the birth?

Rome plays a special part in Tenebrae. We all got used to a beautiful Eternal City. In this film, Dario Argento breaks all the traditional clichés. Argento’s Rome is a cold place and an ideal spot for killers. All of the main colors are steely as a razor blade.

Tenebrae is much bloodier than other films of Dario Argento. I am not a big fan of an extreme violence, but the murders, shot by Argento, are rather stylish and inventive (the most suitable words). Compared with Lucio Fulci, who merely shot extreme violence, Dario Argento shows a twisted psychic of the murders. Maybe, after watching Tenebrae, you would question the fun of bloody books or films.

In comparison with most of the thrillers and crime stories, the story of Tenebrae is rather real. Every day, the media tells us about brutal murders, that is why, the store of Tenebrae could become real.

After not-so-good Inferno, Dario Argento gained back his artistic ground with giallo. Of course, Tenebrae is not Profondo Rosso, but still this film is very interesting and watchable. Tenebrae is a must see for all fans of Dario Argento, giallo and thrillers.

Bez konca

In which Poland?

In the mid-1980s, Krzysztof Kieślowski taught a directing class in West Germany. One day, a young German started to explain his political beliefs. Back then, the radical left groups, as RAF, were popular in the West and a young German was no exception to this. While listening, Krzysztof Kieślowski was smiling politely, but in his eyes were: «Fool, you live in a normal country!». Then the Director said the following: «Andreas, the politics is a dirty business. My only concern, only if there is enough toilet paper in the toilets».

Krzysztof Kieślowski was apolitical in his life and art. He never made politically charged cinema, never belonged to any political parties, clubs or movements. He shot films not for the sake of politics, but for the sake of people, or rather what unites them. That is why, in the socialistic Poland the Director was bullied by Communists and Opposition.

In 1984, at the first glance, Krzysztof Kieślowski changed his art model, by making a political film. If you dug deeper, behind the façade of a story about the death of a young and brave lawyer, who defended a political prisoner, lays a completely different story.

In «Bez konca», Krzysztof Kieślowski portrayed the Polish society during the rule of Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski. The Polish society portrayed as lost, disappointed and utterly pessimistic. The members of Solidarity portrayed as a crushed idealists, who are desperately trying neither to survive, neither to show the last case of obstruction. In this crushed country a tragedy of a widow starts out. She sees the shadows of her husband everywhere and nothing can help her to forget the past and continue life.

As in «Three colors: Blue», Krzysztof Kieślowski examines the question of personal, not political liberty though the history a widow. In these films, the Director asks us the following questions: can someone abandon the past and continue to live? Can suicide be interpreted as a choice of a free man and a way to escape the unbearable situation?

The other part of the film deals with a trial of a young factory worker, charged with organizing a strike. In this part steps out another important character – an old defense attorney Labrador, who takes the case after the death of Antek. The Director channels his thoughts through Labrador – if you didn’t choose death by facing the tanks during the introduction of the martial law, why are you trying to get executed now? Is it worth to fight for the sake of the crashed rebellion?

Almost every character is trying to build his imaginary life in Poland and to escape not-so-good reality. But if you try to escape reality though fantasy, the life would viciously attack you. Of course, if you read history, you would find a case to reproach the Director for extreme pessimism. But before doing that, check the release date and forgive the late Krzysztof Kieślowski. In 1984, no one couldn’t anticipate the crush of the Iron Curtain.

Before the late 1980s, Krzysztof Kieślowski was not too appreciated by snobbish western critics. His films were not accepted to the international film festivals, the Director was in a shadow of a more acclaimed Poles (as Andrzej Waida). Despite all of that snobbery, the films of Krzysztof Kieślowski have one unique trait – they are universal. Their universality means that the stories of those films are understandable for everyone. We can associate ourselves with heroes of his Polish and French films. And you can’t say the same about some films of more famous Poles.

After the success of Decalogue, the snobbish critics began their collective praise of Krzysztof Kieślowski. Let’s join them and watch the film of this great master, who, unfortunately passed away too soon.

Popiól i diament

I do not want to kill anymore, I want to live

Andrzej Wajda died on the 9th of October, 2016. Frankly speaking, I have seen only three Wajda films: Danton, Wszystko na sprzedaż and Pokolenie. The first film I have enjoyed very much, the second film I have seen when I was not mature enough and the third one was a disappointment even for the Director himself. After hearing the news of Andrzej Wajda’s death, I have decided to fill this gap in my education.

On the 8^th of May, 1945, the Nazi Germany has surrendered to the Allies and the War in Europe was finished. On the same day, the two soldiers of Armia Krajowa (Maciek and Andrzej) got an order to assassinate the communist Commissar Szczuka. They mistakenly assassinate two factory workers and make their way back to Wroclaw…

Andrzej Wajda was always accused of shallowness. After the release of Człowiek z żelaza, Wajda’s films were banned in the USSR, the French critics considered Danton as a mere allegory of struggle between Lech Wałęsa and Wojciech Jaruzelski; a lot of the Russians considered Andrzej Wajda as a stereotypical Polish Russophobe. Also, in the Socialistic Poland Wajda was accused of neglecting the official ideology, but in the Post-Socialistic Poland Wajda was accused in the lack of patriotism.

Contrary to the popular belief, Andrzej Wajda, as in Bulgakov’s The White Guard (sadly, I have not read the original novel by Jerzy Andrzejewski) have shown the opponents as ordinary people. The Director shot the film about noble, about idealistic, about decadent, about schlep. At first glance, the spectator would think that the main hero (Maciek) is a brainless teddy boy, who kills people for fun.

After watching a little bit more, we discover the tragedy of a 24-year old idealist, the Polytechnic university dropout. Maciek’s life was ruined by the war. After losing his family, Maciek dropped the books, picked up a pistol and lost his human nature. Despite this, on the 8^th of May, when the nobles and the communists are celebrating together. Maciek fell in love with Christine and gained back his human nature. He wants to stop killing, but on the 9^th of May, Maciek is no longer a hero but a cursed soldier, who is ought to be killed.

Commissar Szczuka is depicted as a moral equal to Maciek. A fervent Communist, who started his career since the Spanish Civil War, Commissar Szczuka wants to build in Poland the Socialism with human face. The war took away his son, not in physical, but in ideological way. Right now Szczuka’s son is an enemy of the New Poland and his father is faced with a terrible choice – to stay a Communist or a human being.

The Director thinks, and the history proves his vision, that the future of Poland belongs not to idealistic and noble, but to schlep and careerist. The Director’s viewpoint is illustrated by the character of Drewnowski – opportunist, who tries to be on the both sides. The new ruling class of Poland is not on the battlefield, the new ruling class of Poland is siting and getting drunk in a fancy hotel. And at the same time, the prisons of Poland are filled with new enemies of state, who are only slapped, by this moment.

The 8^th of May will be ended and there will be a new day in Poland and the new war would start. A lot of people would be killed in order to change one dictatorship to another. In the new Poland, there will be no place for Maciek or Commissar Szczuka, their place would be filled by the numerous Drewnowskis. If you quote a poem by Cyprian Norwid (which was quoted in a film), no, the ashes does not hold the glory of a starlike diamond.

Ashes and Diamonds is considered by film critics to be one of the great masterpieces of Polish cinema Such phrases should be treated with skepticism, but this time you could agree with assessment. Popiół i diament is a film, which has not lost its actuality. Watch this film and if you feel something, than Andrzej Wajda has not wasted his life.

In memory of Andrzej Zulawski (Cosmos)

The last novel of Witold Gombrowicz, the last film of Andrzej Zulawski

On the day of Andrzej Zulawski’s death I got an idea to write the series of reviews «In memory of Andrzej Zulawski». Before his death, I have written reviews on some of his films, but after some time I found their quality as not-so-satisfactory. Especially it concerns the reviews of L’important c’est d’aimer and La femme publique. I have analyzed them from only one point of view and I have not used the best language. That is why, I have taken the writing of those reviews more seriously; for example I have read the books. Before watching Cosmos I have read the original novel of Witold Gombrowicz.

In one interview, Andrzej Zulawski said that there are two traditional themes in the Polish literature – Romanticism and Surrealism. After saying that, the Director especially pointed out that Polish Surrealism, compared with Czechoslovakia, didn’t have the common concept. Andrzej Zulawski said that his Surrealism was the result of pushing the Polish Romantic tendency to excess, as with Witold Gombrowicz.

One of the main element of Surrealism is expression of the actual functioning of thought, without the thought dictate and other societal constraints. In this meaning, the turning point of the film and the novel is the invitation to «the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought» (quoting Manifesto of Surrealism).

The original text of Cosmos is almost impossible to film because of the author’s neglect to the traditional rules of literature. For example, there are many cases when storyline is broken, there are scenes where characters disappear and the novel uses unusual language. Andrzej Zulawski perfectly understood all of this and radically changed the original test. Despite that, the Director preserved the atmosphere of the original novel.

Andrzej Zulawski was fond of saying the he made the films about what was torturing him, and a woman serves him as a medium. In his last film, the Director broke his traditional rule and a male character his «medium». The speeches of the main characters – failed lawyer and writer Witold, - includes the thoughts of Andrzej Zulawski.

Though Witold, the Director mocks the modern Internet society. He gave to one the characters (Fuchs) a useless profession – manager at a Parisian fashion company, - and made him a completely ignorant man, who doesn’t know the single name in French and international literature. Along with that, Andrzej Zulawski mocks an internet writing by making Witold a writer, who writes and speaks stereotypically. Also, I think that by giving to Witold the traits of La Femme Zulawskienne, the Director was showing the mixing of gender roles of the modern society.

As I said, Andrzej Zulawski broke the traditional rule and made the female character (Lena) the archetypical bad actress, about whom the Director said so much words in his interviews, Lena is a linguistic teacher, who doesn’t know the languages, and who desperately tries to become a good actress.

After watching Cosmos, I realized that Andrzej Zulawski had some self-irony. In one of the dialogues, the characters described the not-so-personally favored by the director film (L’important c’est d’aimer) as boring. Also the scene, where Witold enters the rocking sea, resembles the final scene of Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours. Despite the self-irony, the Director was still an opponent of the boring cinema. The heroes called the films of Ingmar Bergman «the factory of boredom». Nevertheless, Andrzej Zulawski paid an homage to Theorema (Pasolini) and Nosferatu (Murnau).

In the last years of Andrzej Zulawski’s life he was called an old cruel senile, who could only write and speak badly about others. Nevertheless, the terminally ill director found some strength and made his last film. The film is a slap to a stereotypical arthouse, because the film is clever, subtle and energetic.

After discovering the fact of terminal illness of Andrzej Zulawski, his choice of book for the filming is rather symbolical. If you forgive me the banality, you could say that Cosmos is a swan song of Andrzej Zulawski. 

In memory of Andrzej Zulawski (Szamanka)

A film without masks

The American DVD edition of Szamanka includes an interview with late Andrzej Zulawski. In this interview, the Director said that a lot of films wear some so called «masks». The theme of «masks» is also present in the films of Andrzej Zulawski. As example, the Director said that Diabel was a result of his reflections on the idealistic Polish youth, who were tricked by the hardliners in the Polish Communistic party. Their protests were the reason for a 1968 conservative backlash in Poland. If you remember, Diabel shows the late XVIII century Poland – the moment when Poland lost its independence. The «mask» of Diabel was worn for political purposes, because Andrzej Zulawski shot this film in the Socialistic Poland.

In the same interview, Andrzej Zulawski said that he shot Szamanka as a film without masks. The Director wanted to shoot film, which depicts the situation in the Post-Socialistic Poland. Andrzej Zulawski  especially emphasized that he did not want to add neither commentaries, neither allegories.

Very talented blogger galina_guzhvina wrote a review on Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours. In this review, she made a very precise point – in order to illustrate his ideas, Andrzej Zulawski added a very French chic style to the film. In case of Szamanka, Andrzej Zulawski chose the model of La Femme Publique. If in La Femme Publique Andrzej Zulawski depicted «Paris of pimps, murderers and scum» (plagiarizing one Russian summary), than in Szamanka the Director depicted a poor and hungry Poland of the 1990s.

In the words of anthropology professor Michal: «Shamanism is one of the first religions of the human kind». If you open any encyclopedia, you will read that this religion is connected with animism, magic, totems and fetish. As in «On the Silver Globe», Andrzej Zulawski used the civilization methology of Toynbee. The Director depicted the birth of a new primitive civilization – Polish capitalistic civilization.

While I was reviewing La note bleue I made the point that this film could be characterized as an anti-biography. While I was watching Szamanka, I have decided that this film could be described as anti-erotica. Returning to Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours, you see in this film a lot of erotic scenes, but they are full of pain, love and beauty. Szamanka is also full of explicit scenes, but you cannot find any traces of tenderness, they remind you of animalistic copulation.

Andrzej Zulawski once said: «I believe that, with few exceptions, acting is a female occupation». Szamanka is no exception to this rule. In this film, La Femme Zulawskienne is Italian the Shaman. Italian is the archetypical Shaman who «attracts flies and people and brings death». Italian is full of primitive and primeval sexual energy. I also think that Zulawski wanted to show in Italian the new Polish man, which is cruel, ignorant and consuming.

In my opinion (I could be wrong) Andrzej Zulawski did not held favorable view towards any religion. The Catholic church is depicted as an inert force, which is desperately trying to take the place, which was previously occupied by the Communistic ideology. The brother of Michal (priest) is shown as a weak and lost man. The Director’s attitude towards priests is shown by one phrase: «If you don’t know what to do with your life, than become a priest».

In all of the films of the «Polish trilogy» (Trzecia czesc nocy, Diabel, Szamanka) Andrzej Zulawski used the theme of Apocalypse. In Szamanka, as in Diabel, the apocalyptic theme is depicted in a rather Absurdist manner. The Director shows the modern Poland, ruled by bandits and scum, who destroy their opponents with theatrical violence. While watching the violent scenes, you catch yourself on the thought, that they closely resemble the surrealistic nightmares.

In one interview, Andrzej Zulawski expressed his negative opinion towards the Polish Films of Moral Anxiety. His negative attitude towards this sub-genre was motivated by the fact that in his opinion the viewer knew and understood much more than was shown in the cinema by directors, who were bound by the communistic censure. The Director always said he doesn't make a concession to viewers, these victims of life. He thought, that the viewer should be hit with a baseball bat.

A lot of critics said that the Polish cinema died after 1989. Andrzej Zulawski disagreed with it, gave the mirror to the Polish people and made them watch. Despite the fact, that the Director was again accuses of all sins, the Polish people voted for Zulawski by money. Szamanka was one of the most popular Polish films of the 1990s and in some rural areas the priests physically blocked the entrance to the cinema.

Watch Szamanka and watch it again. Frankly speaking. I have understood this film only on the second attempt.

In memory of Andrzej Zulawski (La note bleue)

And everyone shall be forgotten

Some critics have characterized the films of the Three Colours (Krzysztof Kieślowski) trilogy respectively as an anti-tragedy, an anti-comedy, and an anti-romance. Accordingly, the discussed film of Andrzej Zulawski could be characterized as an anti-biography.

Almost every film of Andrzej Zulawski was a scandalous one. In 1992, after the release of «La note bleue», the French critics attacked the Polish director on the ground of disrespect for the French culture. The critics thought that Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin, better knows as George Sand, and other prominent French and European artists were portrayed as bratty children, which bears no resemblance to the common place idolized portraits.

The snobbish critics have not bothered to understand that Andrzej Zulawski was not going to film another idealized biography. «La note bleue» is a film about art, especially about music, not about artists. The main theme of «La note bleue» is a music of Frederic Chopin. During the film, the terminally ill composer, who lived in the Sand’s mansion, creates his music, The events of the film are built with accordance with Chopin’s music and the actions of the heroes resembles us the storylines in Chekov’s plays.

Andrzej Zulawski thinks that the filmed great artists of the past resemble the marionettes in a doll’s theatre. Every character in the film depicts his traits and follow his own stereotype. The Director filmed accurately the true portrait of every character. Andrzej Zulawski depicted George Sand as «cigar-smoking, unattractive person and unfeminine» (quoting the letters of Chopin), Solange Sand as a bratty and not-so-talented and Frederic Chopin as terminally ill hypochondriasis. But, I must say again, that the Director didn’t film this film as a biography.

In one of the interviews, Andrzej Zulawski said that he never surrendered to neither capitalism nor socialism. The Director again filmed his thoughts and ideas. Let’s forget the snobbish critics (me included), who are constantly writing about the «The Hysterical Excess of Andrzej Żuławski» or charging him with blasphemy or other things. Pay tribute to him by watching this film, if you would get some emotions, than he didn’t wasted his life badly.

Being There

I like to watch

The people are always looking for something hidden, for some depth. In almost every, even the most banal, film particularly all critics, professional and amateur alike (me included), would try to find the double meaning or some depth. The high society is also plagued by this «disease». How many stories we have, read, or heard about con artists, who pretended that they are the prophets, miracle-makers or some experts.

The life of Chance the Gardener was spent in a rich Washington house. The proprietor supplied Chance with TV sets, allowed him to wear expensive clothes; the maid made meals for him. Chance is illiterate and his only source of information is the TV. But the one day proprietor dies and Chance is thrown on the street. By a will of destiny, Chance (or how he later misspelled himself Chauncey Gardiner) got in the house of a rich, powerful and ailing financier Benjamin Rand. The financier and his wife are thinking that short wordiness of Chauncey is intelligence; his words about gardening are depicted as a smart economical metaphor, even the President of the United States starts quoting his «advices»…

I think that the authors of the film made Chance the Gardener as an ironic depiction of the modern society inhabitants. The TV is the only source of knowledge for Chance; he never hold a book or pen in his life. His naiveté and intellectual lightness makes him an ideal hero for TV audiences. Despite all of that, he stayed a kind man with an absolutely clean soul. After watching «Being there», you will understand the basis for «Rain Man» and Forrest Gump.

The film was made in 1979 – the final year of the decade of «scandals and investigations» (Watergate, Operation Condor, Operation CHAOS and etc.). The authors could not notice the main trait of the 1970s. Since the moment, when Chance enters the high society, everybody thinks that he’s a spy, secret billionaire, economic prodigy. His past is investigated by the law enforcement, intelligence, journalists and foreigners.

From other point of view, the film depicts normality in the most unusual sense of this word. Chance the Gardener stays himself everywhere, even in the high society. While everyone is chasing the money, power or tries to find something on Chance; he still cares about trees and gardens. Chance truly loves his benefactors and neither thinks or commits evil. He is the only who doesn’t chase the phantom values; he find joy in simple things.

I have found this film by the means of a surprise and it did not disappoint me. «Being there» is a clever and multi-layered film, which still keeps it’s originality.

9/10