Jasminum

Jasminum

The film is about love: primarily about love or love relationship between a man and a woman. The viewer is gradually introduced first to Patricia's unrequited love to the movie star, and as the story unfolds, also to Jasmina's tragic love story with one of the monks, and finally the unhappy love story of Natasza, the main character. And the movie is about love in a more general sense, or similar feelings between human beings: exemplified in the unusual friendship between the little girl Genia and Brat Zdrówko (Brother Sanitas), or Natasza's friendship with Patricia.

Although the topic seems rather trite, "Jasminum" does a good job making it interesting by presenting it in the form of a fairytale for adults. The voice-over narration by a child and the waltz music mainly played by piano set the fairytale atmosphere. Jan Jakub Kolski, the director, obviously has a penchant for light, melodious but slightly sad waltz, as he made use of such music in his previous work "Pornografia (2003)." The difference is that in Pornografia the music is partially diegetic, while in "Jasminum" it is completely non-diegetic.

This is because in "Pornografia" the music directly relates to the main character's tragic past. In "Jasminum," on the other hand, the waltz mostly accompanies the young narrator's voice-over, helping to set the atmosphere: tragicomic, sad and comforting at the same time. When doing so, the music also functions as a separator between stages of the plot development, or a symbolic "curtain" between "acts" of the film.

As in "Pornografia," tragic love story and secrets from the past are important in Jasminum. The monastery itself holds a tragic love story from the past, and its spell still persists. The spatial setting of a monastery is quite adequate in this context because by definition the setting must separate men and women. Natasza, the altar-painting restorer and perfume maker on the side, turns out to have her own unhappy love story, no matter how absurd: a runaway bridegroom. Patricia, the hairdresser whom Natasza helps, has perhaps the most banal kind of sad love story: unrequited love towards a famous actor. The film, however, treats all of these love stories equally with "a sense of humor and attentiveness" as the director emphasizes in one of the interviews.

The precocious narrator Genia is the only person who does not have a tragic love story hidden in the past for obvious reasons. Therefore her narration of the story is fairly objective, with her adorable dryness adding to the humorous aspect. In the end, however, Genia experiences her own version of a sad love story when she must leave Brat Zdrówko.

The key to solving all the mysteries of love lies in finding the right aroma. The film is all about magical smell. This extraordinary idea also adds to the fairytale aspect of the film. The important fact is that Natasza's magic perfume works as a love potion only because the love is already there. She merely gives a little boost by caring and acting upon her sympathy. This leads to the final topic of the film: "saintliness," as the director comments.

The film's message is that the most important thing between people is love and caring, and acting upon one's caring for another person. When the caring and acting reaches a certain level, it qualifies to be saintliness. The final scene, when Brat Zdrówko becomes a saint, confirms this idea. As the viewers saw in the film, Brat Zdrówko is the one who cares the most, even about the piglets; he is the one who acts the most to take care of the entire monastery, silently and inconspicuously. This final message is conveyed again with "a sense of humor and tender attentiveness" as Zdrówko complains he cannot light the stoves with the stigmata his hands.

It is doubtless thing - you will enjoy that movie much much more if you're Polish. It's obviously not as hermetic as i.e. "Mis", "Sexmisja", but you have to know/feel what's about countryside of Poland nowadays. Anyway, if you are familiar with "magical realism" (either "Chocolate" and "One Hundred Years of Solitude") then you will find yourself extremely happy. I did. And those fragrances.. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer will maybe hit the blockbuster, but I will still feel Yasminum... There are other Kolski's pictures, some of them I remember pretty well ("Jancio Wodnik", "Szabla dla komendanta") - Yasminum is their rightful successor.

Jasminum by Jan Jakub Kolski is, to my mind, well described by the terms 'unusual' and 'charming' that have been applied to it by Polish reviews. Certainly, the backdrop of a small town and monastery both removes the story from Polish film of the second half of the twentieth century (most films involve one of the two cultural capitals or another prominent city such as Lodz) and tied it to Polish history and tradition (village life and the relationship o the Catholic Church to secular culture share this film's conceptual center). In addition to this, the content and themes in Jasminum interweave with those previously taken up by other Polish directors, most notably the theme of artist and artistic attitudes existing in conflict with religion and politics (addressed by Wajda in Man of Marble and engaged even in such blockbuster classics as Da Vinci) and the motif of broken or frustrated love and philosophical estrangement.

It is true that in Jasminum Kolski gives these topics a fresh airing, reinvigorating them with a slightly off-kilter, quirky narrative point of view and an enchanting cast (though Linda might have been better employed in a more demanding role). Everything from the botanically derived names of the candidates for sainthood down to the cinematographic details of verbal and visual perspective (the chiaroscuro lighting, music in the underground vault scene and knowing 'but-not-supposed-to-know' childishness of the narrator's commentary) adds to the eclectic atmosphere of this love drama. And whether Kolski was successful or not in pulling in off, a love drama it was apparently meant to be.

The film's preoccupation with smell would seem to provide some clue as to the director's essential vision of this tale of love. The heroine (whose tale is, charmingly, told by her daughter) discover piece by piece the secrets of the saints of older days and even of the monks currently living in the cloister. Birdcherry, Plum, Roch--finally, jasmine, the very 'heart' of love, as we find out along with Natasha--all provide the scent-addicted ladies of the town with something so essential they seem unable to bear life without it. What magic do these fragrances conceal, making them so seductive? It would seem they offer their wearers a certain distillation of the life-force itself, an irresistible attractiveness, self-confidence and perhaps most of all a renewed sense of life's possibilities. They transform reality in accordance with the wearer's will in the concentrations appropriate not to weakness but to saintly strength, fortitude and charity.

However, in the end it is the humblest of the monks--Sanitas--who, though tempted by the glory in a new pair of glossy boots, cherished his relationship with little Eugenia, the narrator, and with other small, helpless creatures above all else. While each of the monks is portrayed sympathetically through Kolski's lens (even Birdcherry, the source of Natasha's bitterness), the most penetrating and genuinely touching aspect of this narrative is the growing attachment between an old man and a little girl who, it turns out, have more in common than each originally believes.

The mother--the ostensible heroine, as she is verbally depicted by Eugenia--has her own tale, forming a second stratum of the film's treatment of love. Hers is a story of disappointment and bitterness distilled over time, and it is only slightly mitigated through her meeting with her runaway fiancée. While Natasha's unwillingness to place her own trust in a love potion (as does her own disciple) and consequent search for 'oblivion' in another concoction reveal her veiled motivation for working in the cloister, they also complicate and add a sense of authenticity to her character.

I wholeheartedly agree with the online review that bravely call the movie 'weak'--in the sense that what at heart is meant to be a love story is to a great extent undermined by the secondary plot involving Boleslaw Linda. In the layer of Kolski's message love is portrayed exclusively as sex without much elaboration, forcing Linda and his stage partner into somewhat superficial roles. Even if by this Kolski is merely attempting to represent various attitudes to love and the way individuals are taken by surprise, he fails to provide the internal logic of the rapidly-developing and 'out of the blue' relationship that evidently blossoms into marital bliss.

While Jasminum's atmosphere is engaging and the plot thought-provoking, I ultimately find it a mite contrived and more than a little bit mystifying. I would like to see this very deservingly popular director channel his energies towards even more of these 'modern fairy tales' (bajki), provided he remains faithful to the human reality as well...meaning, just as many fantastic oddities but alongside them a more nuanced and carefully handled human component.

Well....to be honest I am a huge fan of Masters Gayos and Peczka so their participation was the main force that made me to get JASMINUM and my God! the movie is AMAZING! From the beginning to the end...I was embraced by a cascade of colors, sounds and scents...yes - SCENTS for as one of previous reviewers said - You can literally FEEL the scent of the mysterious fragrances! I'd compare my impressions to those I got after watching "Amelie Poulain". Sound - amazing Picture - incredible Actors - superb! Without a doubt I can predict a bright future to Polish cinematography if there would be more that one of a kind (IMO - so far) movie I am talking about!

If you are looking for something different, if you are tired to the all like Hollywood "matrix" movies - JASMINUM is the very right answer!

Kolski at his finest! it truly is a beautiful and heart warming story. I strongly recommend watching it to all you people who enjoy good stories, beautiful scenery and amazing light. Great Polish actors and of course- the little girl who, in my opinion, did a very good job-so natural and so cute! Grazyna Kolska, Janusz Gajos, Adam Ferency, Boguslaw Linda. If you know and respect them, you won't be disappointed, I guarantee. The title is Jasminum and you can almost smell all the fragrances throughout the whole movie.I went to see the movie with my girlfriend, not actually knowing the plot line or anything and we were both speechless after the show. Go see it, even if you are not Polish-this is just a truly beautiful picture.