La vita come malattia fatale sessualmente trasmessa

Krzysztof Zanussi will always be remembered as a talented cinéaste from Poland who has successfully pioneered an indigenous movement called "Cinema of moral concern".His films have always been about a modern man's existential dilemmas.It is precisely this style which is very much evident in this film.In the beginning "Life as a fatal sexually transmitted disease" does not appear at all as a Polish film as for its early scenes set in Paris,French is spoken.It is after some scenes that Polish language is heard to make us believe that a Polish film is being shown.Zanussi tells the story of a doctor named Tomasz who questions his beliefs,faith and morality as his end is near.He makes all efforts to find dignity in his imminent death.As far as film's funny title is concerned,Zanussi did not have much to do as it was found by him as a graffiti in this neighborhood.Zbigniew Zapasiewicz plays the title role with great maturity.He is one of the few popular actors in Polish cinema who has now worked with all the leading directors from Poland.

We open in the Middle Ages, with what turns out to be a genuine mediaeval story of St. Bernard and a horse thief. The 12th-Century setting is well realised, Wojciech Kilar's music is lovely, the story draws us in quickly; all in all, it's as promising a beginning as you'll see anywhere. Then someone yells "Cut!" and it turns out that none of it was real. We'd merely been watching the film-within-the-film – and, even though the material sounds even more intriguing when people in the film talk about it afterwards, we won't get to see another frame of it.

I groaned inwardly. Who could fail to be disappointed to see Zanussi trade a beguiling legend from the distant past for something contemporary, ordinary and altogether more earthbound … to see him trade a timeless parable for something that merely refers to one? Yet he was only following two of the three ironclad rules for making nested works of art, which is more than most directors do; and the third is mostly a matter of luck anyway.

When making a film-within-a-film, the rules are these:

(1) The nested film should be good – as good as it is possible to make it.

(2) The actual film should, of course, also be as good as it is possible to make it.

(3) The actual film should be better than the nested film.

It's easy to fall foul of (3) just by doing one's best to follow (1) and (2). At least Zanussi doesn't make the all-too-common mistake of holding back on the nested film, deliberately making it worse than it need be so that his own film will look better by comparison (a ploy that never works, anyway). As it turns out, "Life as a Fatal, Sexually Transmitted Disease" is a gorgeous, moving film, and we should not resent it (not that it's likely that anyone will resent it; I certainly didn't) simply because it teases us with a glimpse of an even better film that was never made.

Perhaps it couldn't have been made. In the old story, St. Bernard takes charge of the unrepentant horse thief in order to prepare his soul for death, and several years later the horse thief voluntarily submits to being hanged; the old story doesn't say how this change of heart was brought about, and obviously the value of the film we see being made depends largely on how it answers this question. If Zanussi doesn't have the answer himself then of course the film version of the St. Bernard story could not be made by him. What we see instead is a dying man who wants to know the answer; and we see him find out what the answer is, without being told the answer ourselves.

(This is not quite true. A monk tells the protagonist what he thinks the answer is, and he sounds deeply unconvincing, to himself, the protagonist, and to us; and although what he says doesn't SOUND like the correct answer, we don't know that it isn't. In fact, I suspect that it is, although a mumbled explanation spoken with the speaker's knowledge that it sounds foolish is not the same thing as a persuasive demonstration of the lessons which St. Bernard may have taught the thief by example in the monastery centuries earlier.)

Zanussi has made his own parable about death, and although I still wish he'd told the mediaeval story instead I also realise he couldn't have. Hopefully someone else will.

Most of us, perhaps, have happened to stop for a while in the rat race that our lifestyles force on us nowadays and think about the gist of living. Although life goes by quite quickly, such moments occur valuable for us and the older a person is, the more of such reflections appear. In Poland, my country which is also the homeland of Krzysztof Zanussi, the film's director, the best opportunity for such a pause is November, the month that begins with prayers for dead people when late autumn and the empty trees remind us of passing, of fading, of death. As a matter of fact, that is the very essence of our existence and no matter how painful that may sound, everyone faces the reality that death is. The key question is: what is the human attitude towards that death? Krzysztof Zanussi took enough courage taking up a difficult task of the sort and made this movie which appears to me as a very accurate work highlighting the most important and thought provoking aspects of life. However, it also appeared to me as an experience. Why?

The best thing about this movie is, in my opinion, the fact that it does not contain one linear story but rather focuses on "idea" on something that we all have in common no matter where or when we live: fear of death. The story begins with the scenes set in the Middle Ages at the times of St Bernard. These first 10 minutes of the movie direct our attention on Christ-like figure on a donkey (St Bernard) who rescues a criminal sentenced to strangulation by offering him penance in the monastery. In the fear of death, he is ready to take any burden in order to stay alive. Later, when it occurs that the story of St Bernard is only being filmed, the action takes us to our times and we get to know, so to say, the main character of the movie, a doctor Tomasz Berg (Zbigniew Zapasiewicz) who has a cancer and is aware of having little time left in this world... But is there another world? Who cares of us here? What is God up to if he exists? How to spend this little rest of life one is left? Is there a point in helping others when one oneself suffers so badly? Finally, how to cope with death? Those are the thoughts that absorb him and that we experience with him. This story of his is divided into two periods of illness: the first being pain of his will and mind, the second being pain of his body.

Those thoughts are supplied with memorable scenes with Tomasz Berg wonderfully portrayed by Zbigniew Zapasiewicz. We see his growing suffering in loneliness. Although he meets lots of people and talks to them, their opinions, reactions occur unendurable to him. Their views on life as merely money, fun or outer morality make him alienated in this world. The thoughts of Tomasz badly shout: You are alone in your suffering! It is him who alone stands at the bank of Seine River in Paris meditating the end of life; it is him who alone sits in a café depressed to the very core struggling the darkest nights of heart; it is him alone who decides to give aid to the ill people who are on the same boat like him. Tomasz occurs to be the character who, similarly to the criminal of long ago, struggles to live by any means but is bound to surrender in the final battle. I liked the scenes he contacts his ex wife Anna (Krystyna Janda) and tells her in such a straightforward way about his problem calling his flesh "rotten" and her current husband his "successor". She occurs to be a sort of haunting shadow of his past that he wants to atone for. At the same time, there comes a young couple whom he advises to take the joys of life and gives them his flat. Tomasz's visit at the monastery is also worth deep attention...

Similarly to life, therefore, the film is built upon moments and each of those moments has a feeling, has a depth that a viewer can develop and see in their own way. The music by Wojciech Kilar is truly brilliant combining two major concepts, two Ms: Meditation and Melancholy. That soundtrack really moved me and helped me enter the mind of the main character. Here, when analyzing the artistic features of the movie, I'd like to concentrate for a while on performances. As aforementioned, Mr Zapasiewicz does a brilliant job portraying a fading man and giving us a memorable insight into the psyche of such a person. Krystyna Janda is also terrific as his wife Anna, a lady who is also ready for sympathy at the face of deadly illness. The couple, Monika Krzywkowska and Pawel Okraska, though a bit unexperienced, also do pretty fine jobs.

If you asked me if it is worth seeing this movie, I'd put it this way: if you are a sort of viewer who does not mind melancholy, reflective mood, the film is for you. You will not regret. If you are, however, very sensitive and easily depressed, you had better wait for a better moment to see it. I ended watching it being filled with meditation on my chair and I would like to share some of my thoughts with you. Perhaps, after seeing the film, you will find something meaningful in the following:

There is foremost an existential question: what is life? Is it a sexually transmitted disease, a peck of dust in the universe of mortality? Is it a misery that lasts for a while and passes like a feather in the wind? Or is it rather a miracle, a sublime chance of being like a little bird in the church that Mr Berg visits; a little bird that flies towards the Risen Lord...

I was fortunate enough to view this film [and to participate in a Q&A with Mr. Zanussi] at the Chicago International Film Festival in October, 2000 and it profoundly moved me. The basic theme is hardly original: that there is more to life than what one can see and that it is not limited to our time on earth. However, as Mr Zanussi pointed out at the Festival, having been born in Poland in 1939 he has a more than passing familiarity with death, and in this film explores its significance. This he does with visual eloquence, grace and occasional wit in this film set in Poland and France.