Drowsiness (2008)

Drowsiness (2008)
"Sennosc" (original title)

 

Director: Magdalena Piekorz
Writer: Wojciech Kuczok
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Language: Polish
Duration: 105 min
Year: 2008

 

Stars: Malgorzata Kozuchowska, Michal Zebrowski, Rafal Mackowiak, Bartosz Obuchowicz, Krzysztof Zawadzki, Joanna Orleanska, Dorota Pomykala, Andrzej Grabowski

 

 

Drowsiness ( Nesanica) je film o ljudima koji u jednom trenutku svog života shvaćaju da ne žive na način na koji bi to željeli i da sebe predstavljaju drugačijim nego što jesu.
Suočeni sa krajem, koji za neke od njih i konačan, odluče da ostatak života iz korjena promjene.
U filmu se susrećemo sa tri glavna karaktera. Roza koja bolje od narkolepsije i koja sumlja da je muž vara, nezadovoljna životom u zlatnom kavezu pokušava da nađe izlaz iz njega. Drugi lik je Robert, pisac koji shvata da živi sa osobom koja je sasvim drugačija od njega i sa kojom se osjeća kao da je u nečijoj tuđoj koži. Osim toga suočava se za bolešću koja čini da je njegov životni put pri kraju.
Adam je mladi doktor koji upoznaje nesređenog momka, uličnog huligana i sa njim stvara vezu koja će obilježiti njegov život. Najveća dilema mu je kako saopštiti roditeljima da neće živjeti život koji su mu oni predodredili.

Iako je film na momente nekako spor i težak za gledanje gledaocima koji nemaju skolonosti da se sažive sa glavnim junacima. Medjutim vjerujem da će mnoge ostaviti u razmišljanju kako da odgovore na jednostavno pitanje: Da li ste zadovoljni načinom na koji živite i da li sebe predstavljate onakvim kakvi jeste?

Podsjetio me je na jednog mog prijatelja koji još uvjek pati od raskida sa momkom sa kojim je godinama djelio dobro i zlo. U jednom trenutku obadvojica su shvatila da žive u lažima koje su ispleli oko sebe. Lagali su jedan drugog, lagali su prijatelje, roditelje i na kraju sami sebe.

Jedan od njih odluči da raskine i krene iz početka.  Pokušava da nađe djevojku sa kojom će se oženiti i imati djecu. Ubjeđen je da će na taj način poboljšati svoj status i svoj život i živjeti onako kako zaista želi.
Drugi je ovaj moj prijatelj koji pati i luta. Duboko negdje u sebi zna ukoliko krene istim putem kao i njegova dugogodišnja ljubav biće nesrećan i živjeće nekim tuđim životom , a ne svojim. Ali kako izaći iz tog začaranog usuda?

Senność / Drowsiness is the second feature in the young director's output. We waited four years; does it come up to expectations? Has Magdalena Piekorz successfully cleared the "second film threshold", allegedly the most difficult in any director's career? The audience's reaction at the Gdynia festival left no room for doubt; Piekorz's film was applauded the longest of all the films in the competition - Drowsiness won the Golden Claqueur.

This is how Magdalena Piekorz presents her film in an interview (available in the distributor's materials):

'Drowsiness' is a story about people who realize at some point in their lives that they are shouldering a burden, a cross, which is weighing down on them too much. They feel at a dead end, but meeting others with similar problems makes them look differently at reality and decide to change something. The film has three main characters - Róża who suffers from narcolepsy and suspects her husband of cheating on her, Robert who is a writer and realizes that the relationship he's been in for many years is an unfulfilling one, and the family into which he has married is completely different mentally from him - they are hard to live with and oppressive. There's also the story of Adam who, though he has very good relations with his parents - simple people - decides to leave his family home and move to the city. First and foremost, though, he discovers his identity, his real self, and takes the first serious step towards being true to himself. And this is what the film is about - that it's worth being true to yourself in life. The sooner you start acting in accordance with your own conscience and morals, instead of acting against them, the easier it becomes to achieve genuine happiness."

Piekorz's film can be seen as three intertwined stories about contemporary thirty-year-olds at a crossroads in their lives: each of them faces overwhelming challenges. You can also see the film as a metaphor of a generation entangled in the rat race: the world belongs to the winners. But, the winners are few - what about the rest? Perhaps we need to admit openly that not everyone is suited for the rat race, but everyone is entitled to happiness. How can it be achieved? The first - most difficult - step is to be honest with yourself; to make a gesture of honesty which will become the key to your inner self, to liberation in a broad sense.

 

Audiences gave Drowsiness a good reception, seeing it as a useful reminder of a few familiar truths that we tend to forget in the heat of the rat race. Critics, on the other hand, were put off by the work's excessively literary character, which shouldn't come as a surprise given the strong creative personality of writer Wojciech Kuczok, the screenplay's author. It's worth highlighting the film's "Altmanesque" structure and the division into three parts marked by the work of Marcin Koszałka's camera - the story of Róża the actress is told in the mood of a nightmare, the tale of Robert seems grotesque, while the story of Adam, the doctor who musters the courage to admit he is different, breathes realism. Drowsiness is one of those projects we could call a "generation film": portraying a specific generation and providing it with food for thought.