So what do you do if Communism's iron-fisted thrall suddenly self-destructs and people's self-determination topples oppressive governments like dominoes? To be sure, you embrace the freedoms long denied, and you seek to establish those economic, social, and artistic qualities admired in the democratic model-marketplace economy, freedom of thought and association, and unfettered artistic expression. Such was the recent history in Poland during the last decade as Communism wore out its usefulness, and the people weren't going to take it anymore.
Like nature, capitalism hates a vacuum. And, according to Polish film writer-director Artur Urbanski, consumerism now rules in the hearts and minds of Poles. Thus, he chose for his first feature film, BELLISSIMA, a tableau of modern day, urban Poland with its need for greed, obsessive desire for material goods, and compulsive preoccupation for success, sometimes at any cost. Recently, Urbanski accompanied his film to a full-house showing at Harvard's Dudley House Film Program during one of the year's coldest nights.
BELLISSIMA tells the story of Elizebita Bielak (Ewa Kasprzyk), an aging, former singer with locks like Dolly Parton's and a figure to match, who uses her stage-mom determination to force her teenage daughter, Marysia (Maria Goralczyk) into the limelight to become a supermodel. The reluctant adolescent, only 15, is molded by the hands of doting stylists into a runway knock-out. In her heart, she'd rather study ballet and eavesdrop on the neighbors through the peep-hole in their apartment door. But there's no denying, she's got "the Look" that high fashion drools over, and she's swept into the world that trades on appearances. Meanwhile, her innocent voyeurism comes in handy when she splits with mom and moves in with the neighbors she's been spying on, Kuba (Pawel Wilczak)and Kuba's girlfriend (Maria Morin-Kielar). She's lured to the wild side, discovers drink and sex, and exerts her independence by chopping off one of her best assets, her cascading, raven hair. This slap in the face of success gets back at mom, whose idol is the real-life pop star Violetta Villas, who also traded on her looks and her long hair to get to the top.
Elizabita's fling with a younger man, who's opened the right doors for Marysia's
modeling success, gets her pregnant. Mom's forced to make a momentous choice in Act Three which brings the plot full circle, making sense of the imagery at BELLISSIMA's opening and underscoring the film's meaning.
"I tried to make a story about relationships between parents and children," Urbanski told the audience in halting English after the Harvard screening. He used the political upheaval with its changing demands of people, along with the microcosm of the single-parent family, to portray his themes, one of which is the wariness of capitalism and its crass effects.
"Poland is a completely different political system now. Through our capitalism people think everything is possible. In the film, the mother grew up under Communism, and she couldn't have a lot of things. A lot of parents in Poland want to make a future for their children because everyone dreams about the American Dream. And this is crazy, in my opinion."
The break with the past was a good thing, he believes, but he's uncertain about its replacement. Urbanski, 37, who's experienced both sides now, wonders whether his own attempt at living down the past is a hall of mirrors. "I often said to my mother 'I don't want to be like you. I don't want to take you away. I will be completely different. After years, I realize that I'm about the same as her in many ways."
The film has a stylized look, at times like a TV commercial or a music video. Urbanski, also an painter, shot the film on Kodak film stock, then transferred it to video for computer manipulation. He saturated the colors, gleaning the extremes for the transfer to 35mm. The effect contrasts the gaudy, kaleidoscopic commercialism sprouting among the leftover decay from life under totalitarianism.
Since BELLISSIMA was originally made for Polish television, Urbanski uses tighter shots and close-ups, and often extreme close-ups. On a larger screen, this in-your-face cinematography forces your attention to stay with color, shape, and form, even if the images are unsettling. In a key scene, a slap is more than a slap; it's a powerful statement about character.
A graduate of the Acting and Directing Departments of Poland's State Film School, Urbanski decided acting was not his chief strength. "I realized this was not enough for me. I wanted to do something more. I thought about the art department because I am a painter, too. A friend told me I was a good writer, and I should try it. Before I left school I made a short film. I realized I loved it, and I had to do it for life.
" My mother hated the idea. But my father, yes, he liked it. He's a poet. Now she's proud of me."
The pace in BELISSIMMA is at times clipped. This, in part, is due to the brief 17-day shooting schedule Urbanski had to maintain on his $150,000 budget. Yet, Urbanski believes filmmakers should not show everything in a movie. "Because in this case the audience can see the film in their minds, and this is more interesting. People can make their own connections."
Urbanski does not construct a storyboard when he works. In production, he uses the script only as an outline. Instead, he relies on intuition. As the camera rolls, he shoots improvisationally, drawing in the actors as the creation unfolds.
Perhaps the diamond-in-the-rough in this film is 19-year-old Maria Goralczyk. Since the core of the story revolves around her and her mother, casting the right person to play the precocious teen was paramount. He scoured middle schools and high schools and modeling agencies. He auditioned 200 women, not all actresses. Finally, he settled on a model with no acting experience to play the confused, brittle Marysia.
BELLISSIMA begins and ends with a birth taking place. But there's a postscript after The End. In it, Marysia says of the new baby in her life, "You'll be beautiful when you grow up." If as the poet wrote, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," then Urbanski's searchlight sheds a bit of truth on this little slice of modern Polish life, and that might be all we need to know.