The Lure by A. Smoczyńska – is “bent” towards camp exaggeration, an overstated color palette feria, almost torn alive from the embrace of retro dance. At times exaggerated styling, however, is shrouded in an aura of surrealism, filling oneiric spaces. Especially for the audience of the 18th Mastercard OFF CAMERA, we have prepared a special screening with the participation of the filmmakers. You can’t miss it on May 2 at MOS!
Despite the setting of the action in the clubs of the 1980s, the idea seems to be straight out of romance – transferred to the 20th century, completely different natural circumstances. The main woman of the movie are treated as a form of new attraction, but in the position of mermaids could be placed women of distinction. The characterization in the shape of the world outside the real order therefore seems to be only a metaphorical form of communication.
According to the text resounding in the first lines of the opening melody – “This city will explain what we lack”. – that deficiency will turn out to be the absence of traditionally understood femininity. The film’s genre eclecticism combines elements of body horror with musical, which allows for subversive transformation of conventions and deconstruction of traditional ideas about women’s roles in patriarchal structures.
In The Lure the transformation of the characters from women into monstrous creatures takes place both literally and metaphorically – there is a deconstruction of traditional femininity. By deforming themselves, the characters reject patriarchal norms and expectations, stepping into the role of forces that can annihilate men as the foundation of this hierarchy. This seems to be paralleled by the attitude of S. Freud, who provides misogynist tools through the position that woman is to be understood and perceived as a defective individual through the deficit of the phallus – a man looking at a woman sees a mutilated body, feeling the fear of a castrating woman, thus expressing the fear of being deprived of power.
This “monstrosity” in the film by A. Smoczyńska, however, takes on a mixed form – fear as well as fascination, a kind of unprecedented exoticism by its surroundings. Through the voluntary deprivation on the part of one of the progatonists of its uniqueness, manifested through a mermaid’s tail, in favor of affection, the admiration of the surroundings also disappears. The monstrosity, therefore, meant to be a finalized manifestation of independence and a space for the rearrangement of society, can ultimately be seen as subservient to the prevailing patriarchal structures.
There was supposed to be frutti di mare, and what’s left is a post-carnival mess. Love’s bones bite off with rage – the final melody seems to sum up the feminist narrative that flows from the screen along with the tune from the era taken. The sea foam dissolves along with the vision of unfulfilled love.
Smoczyńska’s production represents an unconventional, precursor position in Polish cinema, successfully acting as a form of cinema of rebellion against stereotypical gender roles. The exploration of the theme of female transformation and sexuality in the fairy-tale-horror convention and the desire to redefine the female role and its subjectivity constitute an important voice in the discussion of gender equality in both the world of film and society.
As part of the Special Screenings section at the 18th Mastercard OFF CAMERA, a screening of the film The Lure, directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, will take place at the Małopolska Garden of Art (Large Hall) on May 2 at 7:00 pm. The screening will be followed by a meeting with the filmmakers Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Michalina Olszanska, Andrzej Konopka and Jakub Kijowski. This is an excellent opportunity to refresh or get acquainted with the work for the first time and listen to a conversation with its authors. The meeting will be held in Polish.