The similarity of the titles is not accidental, “Fucking Bornoholm” was first created as an audio series with Magdalena Różczka, Michał Czernecki, Leszek Lichota and Olga Kalicka. The story of two couples, whose problems are revealed during the May trip, was transferred to the screen by Anna Kazejak (“Promise”, “Erotica 2022”, “Szadź”). She admits that she herself was in a marital crisis that she could not solve. Inspired by these experiences, she created, as she emphasizes, a tragicomedy.
But the genre proportions are not evenly measured here. Much more than an occasion to laugh, Kazejak’s film gives cause for concern. These are born when, during the leave, a couple with many years of experience – Mai (Agnieszka Grochowska) and Huberta (Maciej Stuhr) and their children, a longtime friend from studies Dawid (Grzegorz Damięcki), his son and new, younger partner Nina (Jaśmina Polak) – one of the boys’ secret is revealed. The idyll comes to an end quickly and carefree masks are forgotten.
Yasmina Reza’s hit drama “God of Murder”, known in the cinema thanks to the film “Carnage”, and many others like him. Kazejak also makes fun of the privileged middle class. She is helped in this by the Danish island of Bornholm – the traditional starting point for heroes – which shows our Polish complexes in all its glory, and even deeply hidden xenophobia in moments of greatest weakness. We, Poles, are like that, we can shout the worst things, but we are ashamed to even whisper about difficult matters – they seem to be talking between the artist’s lines.
The article continues under the video.
The screenplay by Anna Kazejak and Filip K. Kasperaszek devotes the most attention to the characters of Grochowska and Stuhr. She dropped out of college for the family, and for him, a successful lawyer, being the only breadwinner helps nourish his ego. They both realize that they have missed the moment when they dislike not only each other but also themselves.
“Fucking Bornoholm” captures the breakdown of life at its most ordinary moment, somewhere between the next barbecue and the morning toilet. This is largely due to the actors who are able to impart depth to superficial characters and conventional situations at times. Not only are Grochowska, who has been reliable for years, rightly cast in international productions, and twice nominated for the OFF Camery Stuhr Acting Award (also for a multi-laurel performance in “Back to those days”). The bittersweet tones are well balanced by Jaśmina Polak (associated with Krzysztof Warlikowski’s Nowy Teatr) who returns to the cinema screen in a large role as a home-grown psychologist.
Although it happens that “Fucking Bornholm” becomes too predictable, sometimes misses the ideas for building tension (too literal sound inserts) and does not avoid script clichés, it is a lesson in emancipation that corresponds well with the Polish mentality. Feminine, but also, above all, purely human. It reminds us that when we decide to live for others, it is good to remember that an oxygen mask must be put on first.
4/6
“Fucking Bornholm”, dir. Anna Kazejak, script. director and Filip K. Kasperaszek, pre-premiere screenings as part of 15th edition of the Mastercard OFF Camera. Festival lasts in Krakow until Sunday, May 8. Film in cinemas from Friday, May 6.
Creation Date: Today, 14:00
–
