Writer/director Tomasz Wasilewski, and Berlinale Silver Bear winner for Best Script for his 2016 entry United States of Love, latest film is Fools. United States of Love looked at relationships that live in the shadows, and Fools continues that exploration, but this time with a singular focus.
The first shot in the film is of a couple, who we’ll learn are Marlena (played by Dorota Kolak) and Tomasz (played by Lukasz Simlat), intimate in bed. It’s filmed interestingly, from their heads downwards, and their actions as they move through the frame make it appear like they are trying to consume each other. This may have been an initial choice, especially given the nature of their relationship. What the audience doesn’t know yet, is that their relationship is incestuous, and Marlena is Tomasz’s mother. Their coupling ends with Marlena on the phone receiving news from her daughter (Magda played by Katarzyna Herman) about her other son (Mikolaj played by Tomasz Tyndyk). The outside intruding in, the family she gave up for her relationship. And although we don’t get the contents of the call in the scene itself, we see the ripples of it as soon as she leaves the room and envisions water at the door. Marlena fears the water, and she feels it encroaching.
The film’s approach to its incest storyline is not glamorized or romanticized despite portraying Marlena and Tomasz as a loving couple to outside viewers unaware of their connection. Unaware being the key point. They have isolated themselves to a remote area and the ties to their former lives and family (children/siblings). They live in fear of their relationship coming to the surface, which is one of their fears about bringing Mikolaj to their home when he needs care because it could upset their tenuous balance. As Marlena again takes on the role of mother it upsets the balance in her and Tomasz’s relationship, and it starts to crumble. Buried things never stay buried and they come to the surface. Marlena’s face speaks volumes when Tomasz refers to her as “mother” about an hour and a half into the movie.
Marlena has several visual hallucinations, and they aren’t always distinguishable from the reality of the film. This is aided by the set design for the apartment. The apartment is filled with wallpaper that seems to spring from the walls, creating a rich interior world. Possibly to compensate for Marlena and Tomasz’s lack of exterior lives.
The film’s second act is hard to watch. It may come as a surprise that it’s not due to the incest storyline. It’s possible a viewer could enter this act still unaware of the incest storyline, the little clues up to and through most of this act are intentionally vague. It’s not until the third act that the underlying relationship between Marlena and Tomasz is overtly stated. Though, anyone reading this review would know about their relationship going in. The main reason I found the second act difficult to watch is because of the hospice storyline. As Marlena (and Tomasz) struggle to take care of Mikolaj, Mikolaj spends much of the act moaning. His pain becomes Marlena’s and the audience’s.
Fools premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Proxima Competition.
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