Here are three films of the Main Competition of XIX Plus Camerimage!



Wuthering Heights

Andrea Arnold's"Wuthering Heghts" is radically different from the previous romantic adaptations of Emily Brontë's classic novel. Arnold's idea was to immerse Catherine and Heathcliff's forbidden affair in visual harshness. These “Wuthering Heights" are exceptionally chilly and painfully physical, though not without strong emotions. The lack of romantic fever, though, did not interrupted Arnold in creating a poignantly beautiful film that attacks all the senses and is hard to forget.

"Wuthering Heights", courtesy of Gutek Film
Yorkshire's foggy moors and the overwhelming wind become a stylistic background for the story of two young persons who do not understand neither the feeling that makes them do weird things, thus condemning to perennial torment, nor the human-set rules that try to contain their spirits. Andrea Arnold's“Wuthering Heights" is not about the power of words. The characters channel their emotions through actions and gestures that cinematographer Robbie Ryan subtly captures in the frame. His cinematography does portray the severe conditions in which the plot takes place; the images stress the physicality of the human body, its desires, and the ubiquitous nature. Nevertheless, Ryan's work also communicates the sense of yearning for the ultimate freedom one can only aspire to while he/she lives. Freedom that it is as light as a feather driven by the indifferent wind, that helps Catherine and Heathcliff to leave behind them all the unbearable feelings and the burden of tough reality.

Polish Title: Wichrowe wzgórza
Directed by: Andrea Arnold
Cinematography: Robbie Ryan
Polish distributor: Gutek Film
Polish premiere: 23th March 2012

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Rose

Wojtek Smarzowski has once again created an uncompromising vision of the world. Smarzowski sets the story immediately after the end of World War II, on the area of Polish Masuria, inhabited by people stripped of national identity. And on these ruins of humanity he displays the characters' attempts in getting back to normality. In the center of this emotional hell, full of raping, brutal robberies and psychological tortures, Smarzowski puts the blossoming feeling between two people broken by the war's horrors. Without any pathos, superfluous words and romantic gestures - the main characters simply find in themselves an affection and asylum of calmness.

"Rose", phot. Jacek Drygała, courtesy of Monolith Films
As it is always the case with Smarzowski's films, the cinematography is simply perfect, giving the story all the emotional overtone it needs. Piotr Sobociński jr has created a reality faded from suffering, adapted to the characters' emotions and the changing seasons. The cinematography in “Rose" makes the viewers aware of all the traumatic events of the era the film is set in. To move the story forward Sobociński jr often uses symbols like broken mirrors or peculiarly framed crosses, yet in all the drama and suffering both filmmakers try to seek some sort of reassurance for the characters. They find it in intimate scenes in which the flickering glimmer of light coming from a single candle lights the darkness which shrouds over the chamber and illuminating the calmness on the faces of two people reconciled with their tough lives.

Polish Title: Róża
Directed by: Wojtek Smarzowski
Cinematography: Piotr Sobociński jr
Polish distributor: Monolith Films
Polish premiere: 27th January 2012

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A Separation

In “A Separation"Asghar Farhadi creates a “Rashomon"-like world in which the notions such as objective truth, moral simplicity and common good do not exist. We watch a few people who bend the boundaries of their definitions of what is moral just to conform to their pride, ego, personal honor and religious belief. Farhadi becomes a neutral observer, for in “A Separation" there is no division over right and wrong, good and bad people, and the ideas of fairness and justice are becoming a matter of subjective opinion. “A Separation" is a film about the inability of having an honest conversation, hence leading to the suffering of those who do not deserve it. For Farhadi's heroes and heroines seemingly talk to each other, but they never want to surrender what they think is right.

"A Separation", courtesy of Gutek Film
“A Separation" is a film that was made with an extraordinary discipline. In almost a surgically precise manner Mahmoud Kalari's cinematography delves into the reality of Iranian middle class, accentuating both the external aspects of the apartments, courtroom halls and hospital corridors, and the overwhelming emotions that make the characters act impulsively. It does not matter if Kalari films the scenes of private conversations between two people, or amazingly edited crowd sequences. The cinematographer creates a crescendo of images and sounds that emphasizes the increasing suspense, moral ambiguities of the characters' actions and the subsequent plot twists that change the perception of the world presented on the screen.

Polish Title: Rozstanie
Directed by: Asghar Farhadi
Cinematography: Mahmoud Kalari
Polish distributor: Gutek Film
Polish premiere: 7th October 2011