Polish director Zanussi intrigued us before with an early film called The Structure of Crystal from 1969. Deb chose three of his other films for her August Festival, just before they left Mubi. None of his films are currently showing on Criterion. We began with his last film, titled Life As A Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease, from 2000. A young medical student and a dying older physician feature prominently in this reflective film that features many of the director's trademark hot points: mountain climbing, painful slow death, and uncertainty about life, the universe, and everything. The film has a great opening scene, a medieval one with the story reaching its climax when, like the Monty Python film, we suddenly hear "Cut," and realize that we are on the set of a film. The young medical student is an extra, his girlfriend being the costume person and the older doctor as the attending physician. A followup film from 2002 titled The Supplement, also showing on Mubi, is the same film but re-cut. New scenes are added and some original scenes are cut. We started watching it before realizing that there wasn't really a need to see it. The original film had a very limited release, so the director re-edited it for a new release. It is worth checking out.
The Constant Factor is a much earlier film, being from 1980. A young electrician is scrupulously honest, while his colleagues and boss try to scam dollars here and there from the corrupt Communist system. This eventually costs him his friends and his job, and ironically his job. His mother is dying, and he must navigate moral and spiritual issues along with his pragmatic day to day life. The film one the Jury Prize and Cannes, and is worth seeing. The ending is sudden and inexplicable, however. Much better endings could easily be conceived. There is mountain climbing.
Even earlier was the third film we watched, called Illumination, from 1973. A young student comes to Warsaw to study Physics. He also climbs mountains. He has a prolonged life crisis as he tries to decide what to do with his life. Eventually married and with a child, he has his biggest mental breakdown. Eventually reconciled with his wife and child, he returns to university and finally completes his degree. His physician, whom he has seen because of chest pains, tells him he needs to live life at a slower pace. He rejects the advice, as he did with a colleague who does not wish to work on Sundays with him, until the very final scene, when he finally gets his "illumination." In all of Zanussi's films, the story is not as important as the what the character is going through. Religion, work, play, life, money, friends, discussions, and ideas all play an important role, in which the viewer is often as perplexed as the main protagonist. His films are unique, however, if not always clearly stamped with an understandable vision. Life isn't always like that, is it?
Ranchipur is a fictional city in India which apparently has heavy rains. Those rains descended upon Amhersburg today, with a vengeance. We have had more rain this summer than many previous ones. Usually by now I am done with cutting grass. Not so this year. And today's temps never left the mid 60s F. We have just ended a major and very long lasting heat wave, so the rain and cool temps are most welcome.
Mapman Mike
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