La jeune fille et les paysans

Sometimes you can appreciate the artistry involved in process of filmmaking, but not fully enjoy the experience of watching the actual movie.

This is precisely how I feel after watching the official submission of Poland for the 'Best International Feature Film' category of the 96th Academy Awards in 2024 titled: 'THE PEASANTS' ('Chlopi').

Synopsis: "Jagna is a young woman determined to forge her own path in a late 19th century Polish village - a hotbed of gossip and on-going feuds, held together, rich and poor, by adherence to colorful traditions and deep-rooted patriarchy."

Back in 2017 another Dutch -Polish production 'Loving Vincent' (story of Vincent Van Gogh) was made, with similar painting technique, roughly by the same Polish team. Which encouraged them to create Polish based story. 'Loving Vincent' received a huge amount of good critiques and was admired for its artistry. With this type of technique comes tremendous amount of paint work as each film frame (in PAL system 24 frames per second) needed to be painted over film footage. The reason why this technique worked in this Dutch production is that the subject of the film was about famous, tragic painter, so stylistically and subject wise there was a artistic coherence.

After watching'THE PEASANTS' I was wondering if this painting technique was not too much of a distraction and couldn't help to wonder if without it this film wasn't better off just having a standard color correction.

To be fully immersed in the story and appreciate the actual acting performances, we watch micro body expressions of the actors, judging quality of their characterization by how well the non verbal cues mix with what they say, so that every micro expression specially on their face and eyes, tells us subconsciously what actor in character things.

In 'THE PEASANTS' as camera moves around the whole picture constantly vibrates, just as it happens during psychedelic trip the colors morph and vibrate. The beauty of psychedelic trip is that they are relatively short and intense. 'THE PEASANTS' feels like a almost 2 hour psychedelic trip, which might leave the audience little nauseated. Constant movement in the frame, can potentially create an uneasy feeling in the viewer.

As much as I wanted to love this film, by the end I was happy I lasted till the end, having moments where I felt disconnected from the experience.

To be fair, It must be said all the performances are very solid and again this film is full of masterful work and yet the technique used feels little gimmicky and to be honest in the day and age of phone apps, which add cartoon or painting correction to the video footage, it isn't anymore that unique

To conclude 'THE PEASANTS' is a truly potentially tragic and emotional story, which in my opinion, due to painting technique looses what makes this story interesting. The emotionality is getting lost, which is such a pity.

I do however salute all the filmmakers for the amount of ground breaking work they have done, it's just for my taste, as well as the Academy (sadly 'THE PEASANTS' wasn't chosen to be nominated) seems to agree with my assessment.

I still do highly recommend it due to its artistic value.

Wow... I did not expect this movie to be as incredible as it was!

As a Pole raised in England, I haven't touched bases with a lot of Polish literature. But this movie (based off of the Nobel Prize nominated book) was a great experience.

Not only is it beautifully made and animated, the story was extremely tragic and real.

All of the characters are greatly developed, the plot is enticing, and the music is just perfect.

I would recommend this movie to everyone, Polish or not. Not only is it insight and commentary on past Poland, but also on masculinity, femininity, class, and community.

10/10.

An adaptation of a Nobel prize-winning novel from the makers of Loving Vincent using the same rotoscoped oil painting animation style, that's enough to be interested in this. But with the experience from Loving Vincent, they set out to make it even better. With dynamic camera movements that are meant to give an experience rooted in Polish culture and village life, this movie does an incredible job of immersing the viewers in this world. Kamila Urzedowska is incredible as Jagna, the village beauty, whose life is decided by others at every step yet can't take away her free-spiritedness, even with all the shackles. Even though, the story is a classic European village tragedy, the music and animation take it to another level. That ending sequence is just so incredibly shot and animated that it's impossible to not be moved after watching this. Much of the film would've been a lot harder to watch if it was live-action, even though it is quite hard even in this rotoscoped animated style.

"Chlopi " (The Peasants) is a cinematic painted masterpiece telling us captivating story about search of love and happiness in 19th century rural area. In this picture music, breathtaking visuals, and dance come together. The soundtrack stirs emotions, the visuals capture rustic beauty, and intricate dance sequences add depth to the story. This film showcases the power of art forms to create an immersive and emotionally resonant experience, transporting the audience to a world where music, visuals, and dance are integral to the characters' lives. A sensory delight that leaves a lasting impression.

This film is worth watching primarily for the artistic work. I believe that it would not have been so attractive if it had been made using ordinary techniques. It should be said that the film is Polish, as far as the cast and authors are concerned, but as far as the work on animation and drawing is concerned, it is absolutely Serbian and a lot of people worked on it. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I've been told. Anyway, it deserves to be awarded in every sense, because the idea is fantastic! The topic is always relevant, anywhere, whether in the village or at the court, at that time, and even now.