Cosmos [DVD]

What a beautiful epitaph, as subversive and inner-directed as the whole catalogue he left behind.

Amazing movie, in a beautiful package, with plenty of printed material.Loved it.

crap

5/10 • Ultimately empty navel-gazing.

Cosmos, Polish ex-pat director Andrzej Zulawski's final film (after a 15 year gap), is a fascinating and beautiful piece of work.If you're familiar with zulawski's other films, I would place it firmly in the camp with 'That Most Important Thing, Love' or 'Fidelite' rather than the more Psychotronic efforts (Possession, Diabel, Szamanka). Which is not to say that it is any less weird. Based on a famously baffling novel by Witold Gombrowicz, and starring a mixture of French Veterans and young performers, Cosmos is actually very entertaining and weirdly light hearted. It's clearly made on a low budget, but as the informative Making-of documentary explains, Zulawski would be constantly altering the script, locations etc to adapt to challenges of weather etc. This playfulness means that the scenes never feel stale or over-done. You keep watching despite the complete lack of coherent plot or naturalistic dialogue. In some respects it resembles some of those Jess Franco films from the late 70s where he is clearly making it up as he goes along (but staying totally in control like a jazz musician), without the zooming into pubic bushes.The Arrow Blu Ray is really great, and the extras are fascinating for the info starved Zulawski fan. Picture quality is ridiculously sharp and detailed. Love this.

Cosmos starts with two friends trying to get away from it all. One is Witold who has flunked his law exam and the other is Fuchs who has just packed in working for a Parisian fashion house. They head off to some seaside resort to a family run guest house. This family run guest house is from the more bizarre end of the market, the sort that gets very mixed reviews on Trip Advisor. For starters things are slightly awry from the start, with dead birds found hanging and staffed by people who are so emotionally unstable that a Ritalin overdose would, possibly, have little effect.The backgrounds of the two young men are juxtaposed brilliantly to the mayhem that is going on around them. Witold seems to be a frustrated dilettante and writer who is wont to fall in love and Fuchs is a force of nature who sparkles with a misplaced energy – if such a thing really exists. The increasing madness seems to deliberately challenge any form of acceptable narrative whilst telling stories that will, eventually, add up to the whole.This will not be a film for everyone; it can be seen as ‘art house’ or even deliberately annoying, but when you peel back the layers there is so much here that it is actually a celluloid feast. The performances are at once over the top and sensational as well as being sensationalist. Jean-François Balmer as Leon the patriarch of the house is just sublime as is his screen wife - Sabine Azéma. But the real star is writer and director Andrzej Zulawski who sadly died in February. As far as a Swan song could go it would be hard to beat such a piece of original work as this – he will be truly missed. If you like cinema that challenges convention and has its heart firmly planted on its, over acting, sleeve then be prepared for a treat.