D Malgorzata Szumowska | Poland, 2015
Body is an engaging dark comedy about death and grieving. A coroner (Janusz Gajos) fails to deal with his dangerously anorexic daughter Olga (Justyna Suwala) after the loss of his wife. He sees dead bodies on a daily basis and has become desensitised and emotionless. The film explores the mythology surrounding death and after Olga is sent to hospital for her illness the family comes in contact with Anna (Maja Ostaszewska) Olga’s therapist who believes she can communicate with the dead.
Essentially the film is about a family reconnecting. The acting was superb and the director Malgorzata Szumowska won the Silver Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for her efforts. There are elements of dark comedy and drama, and the opening scene is very funny – almost sick.
I was almost to absorbed in the story to remember the camera work, some hand held camera movement at the start introduced the coroner, and some interesting editing choices left it ambiguous as to whether or not something supernatural was going on or not. The film portrayed a dark side of Polish society, including suicide and infanticide, while also displaying some tender moments.
Anna is an interesting character and we are let into her daily life, where she owns a Great Dane which is ridiculously big for her tiny apartment. The presence of the dog apart from creating comedic scenes of Anna failing to control such a huge beast also points to her larger need to be loved and to love something.
The film is very interesting and well worth watching.
