After ‘The Lure’: Agnieszka Smoczyńska on New Ways of Telling Old Stories

agnieszka_smoczynska_en.jpg, default, Agnieszka Smoczyńska, photo: Wojciech Olszanka / East News

Since ‘The Lure’ turned a Warsaw nightclub into a haunted mermaid lagoon, Agnieszka Smoczyńska has been searching for ever bolder ways to tell familiar stories. In her interview with Culture.pl below, the highly-original director discusses ‘Fugue’, Polish legends, and how fear, memory and desire shape her films.

Agnieszka Smoczyńska is one of Poland’s most original female directors. Her film ‘The Lure’ was widely appreciated by audiences around the globe. We spoke to her after two of her productions premiered during the 18th IFF New Horizons in Wrocław: ‘Fugue’, which had already been screened during Critics’ Week at the 71st Cannes Film Festival, and the anthology ‘The Field Guide to Evil’, co-directed by a group of filmmakers and presented in Texas at the South by Southwest Festival.

Marcin Radomski: ‘The Lure’ won the Special Jury Award at Sundance Festival in 2016, and dozens of awards at different American film festivals. It was screened in cinemas in the United States. Did you expect such success across the ocean?

Agnieszka Smoczyńska: No, but I knew that we were creating a film that wouldn’t be just a one-season curiosity. In fact, The Lure continued to circulate internationally and gained popularity over time. The film is a reworking of a fairy tale and, as such, refers to common archetypes understood across the globe. It also adhered closely to the principles of American aesthetics and the perception of musicals, which differs from the European perspective. Audiences across the ocean appreciated the blend of musical and horror. The emergence of a new genre – one that could be both commercially viable and taken seriously – was highly valued in the United States.

MR: What intrigues you the most in such genre hybrids?

AS: The moment when you’re breaking the rules of the genre, you’re entering a game with the audience’s expectations. Clear rules make the film predictable. Only the hybrid of seemingly foreign worlds adds a new value. It seems to me that this is the future not only of the commercial side of the industry but first and foremost of the original ‘auteur cinema’. The world has changed radically. Classic films such as The Tenant or Repulsion by Roman Polański, which are well-suited to the genre frames, aren’t produced anymore. I’d like to create variations of different genre combinations.

MR: After the premiere of ‘The Lure’, you reportedly received many offers from the US but you decided to work on ‘Fugue’ instead. Why was that?

AS: Back then I had already been working on Fugue for several years so I just wanted to finish this project first. The script was presented to me by Gabriela Muskała, the great actress, but also a dramatist. She was inspired by real events – a few years earlier she came across a similar story reported in a journalistic TV programme.

MR: You met Gabriela Muskała in 2011 while working on the short film ‘Aria Diva’. She played the role of a housewife…

AS: Back then Gabrysia already had an idea for the next film and it was hatching in her head for the next couple of years. We were working together on its script, then I broke away to work on The Lure, but finally, we met on a filming location. The script for Fugue was really touching. Its heroine suffers from dissociative fugue – a psychiatric disorder diagnosed among others by complete reversible amnesia.

MR: What was the most moving part in this story?

AS: The fact that you can just erase your biographical memory and become a completely different person. Besides that, you lose the attachment and emotions towards your family – children, parents. How could anyone possibly forget about their love towards the closest people? What intrigues me is that magical moment of falling in love and ‘out’ of love. By losing the memory, you’re also getting rid of the identity. This is because your identity is shaped by who you are, your background, and everything that defines you as a person. The film poses a question which can be related to all of us: can we learn ourselves anew?

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‘Fugue’, directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, photo: Jakub Kijowski

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MR: ‘The Lure’ refers to ‘The Little Mermaid’ by Hans Christian Andersen. I thought that maybe ‘Fugue’ is a reworking of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll. Do you agree with this opinion?

AS: I wasn't directly inspired by this book, but I had an image of tunnels and roads in my mind. It turns out that they are the rabbit hole which my heroine has to escape.

MR: The claustrophobia and isolation of the heroine are reflected perfectly in the stills created by Jakub Kijowski.

AS: The script was a realistic psychological drama. Together with Kuba, we were trying to shape it through the stills, colours, and locations. While exploring the story, I started immersing myself in Alicja’s world. It was the moment when we started thinking of the archetypical scenes depicting the heroine’s state.

MR: For example?

AS: The heroine’s descent under the ground and rebirth. Originally, we had a very harsh sentence in the script, ‘You’ve turned this house into a tomb’, but all in all, it wasn’t included. I thought we should rather show it. That is why, when entering the house, the heroine feels as if she was falling into a grave. Later we realize that she was the one who had carved this tombstone for herself. I went for fantasy elements and made sound an important element of storytelling. Silence is still very important in this film. Breathing. Both the sound of birds and pictures of nature show the way in which the woman from the mechanised world enters the realm of nature.

MR: The choice of locations seems to be important for the suspense.

AS: We were shooting in Wrocław on the WUWA housing estate – one of six model Werbund estates built in Europe at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s. It was our set designer Jagna Dobesz who came up with this idea. She wanted to show the uniform architectural style. One of the buildings, designed by Hans Scharoun, was designated for lonely people, married couples without children – today it’s a hotel owned by the National Labour Inspectorate.

MR: In the memorable scene in which the spouses are dancing to ‘Lovers are Strangers’ by Michele Gurevich, the couple are standing very close to each other but they still cannot find any emotional connection. It's a dance of two separate individuals. Does ‘Fugue’ present a woman deprived of the man's perspective?

AS: Yes, it is. By the way, it’s a good moment to mention Łukasz Simlat, because the character he plays is vital for the film even though always overshadowed by Alicja. According to the original script, the husband would enter the stage in the subsequent scenes but I’ve decided to skip the Warsaw events and describe the heroine’s house as soon as possible. The dance you’ve mentioned enables you to tell the story through movement. The acting seems improvised but I’ve precisely arranged it in the script. I needed a scene that would allow me to describe their emotions and relationship through the picture. Alicja and her husband are happy but at the same time extremely lonely. It’s one of the most important scenes for me.

MR: A few years ago, I read a report about a girl who had slipped over, hit the washing machine with her head and passed out. When she finally woke up, she didn’t know who she was.

AS: Physically – we’re still dealing with the same person, but their character is different, and some of the skills start disappearing. It’s a standard case for psychologists and doctors, but for ordinary people it’s inconceivable. While preparing for this film, together with Gabrysia we were watching documentaries and talking with relatives of the people who have this disease. Most often they had an impression of living next to a stranger who just a couple days earlier had been a member of their family.

MR: The heroine of ‘Fugue’ returns to her family after two years. She has to learn how to love her husband, child and parents. There are two levels of this struggle shown by focusing on the appearance and behavior. The then polite and calm mother displays easier virtues after coming back home.

AS: Alice doesn’t know Kinga’s identity. She doesn't want to accept it because she knows only her current self. The conflict between the two personalities is extremely interesting.

MR: It starts in the very first scene, in which the main character enters the railway tunnel in the Central Station in Warsaw. She enters the unknown world.

AS: The opening scene introduces the heroine and suggests the future events. In the script, this sequence was placed later in the timeline of events, but I decided to put it at the beginning.

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A still from ‘The Lure’ directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, photo: Kino Świat

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Kadr z filmu "Córki Dancingu" w reżyserii Agnieszki Smoczyńskiej, fot. Kino Świat

MR: At the time, you were working on ‘The Field Guide to Evil’. The film consists of eight segments shot by the most talented young directors from all over the globe. Each segment is inspired by the folklore of a given country, and as a whole, the picture can be described as a horror film. How has your collaboration begun?

AS: Two American producers Ant Timpson and Alamo Drafthouse reached out to me. I was on a festival tour with The Lure, already working on Fugue, so I didn’t know whether I’ll be able to find some time for yet another project. I really liked its idea – each director was supposed to choose a legend, direct a short piece based on it, and later the producers were to put these parts together. Other directors engaged in the project have really impressed me – Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy), Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala (Goodnight Mommy). I’m very happy I made this film with such a great crew and executive producer – Aurum Film managed by Leszek Bodzak and Aneta Hickinbothan.

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‘The Field Guide to Evil’, directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, photo: press materials

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MR: The film premiered at the South by Southwest Festival in mid-March in Austin, Texas. What was the reaction of the American audience?

AS: It was screened in the Midnight Show section at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, which is the cinema of the film’s producer. It’s a very famous cinema network in America. They are ardent fans of horror films. Before our film, the audience was watching B horrors and it surprised me that the reception of our work was so wonderful. It’s a fascinating and energy-fuelling experience. Everyone has created their horror story but the episodes are composed together into one bigger picture. Generally, I think that the scariest horrors are the exact adaptations of Grimm brothers’ tales. It was also interesting to observe how similar were the Austrian and German novels, more precisely how similar were the fears they both referred to.

The Lure directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska - Image Gallery

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MR: The main character of the Polish segment entitled ‘Wyspa Pożeracza Dusz’ (The Island of the Soul Eater) is Kindler – the hero of the 19th-century legends who set off to Krzywa Kuta Lake to eat a dozen of human hearts which were supposed to make him successful in the lawsuit. Starring Andrzej Konopka and Urszula Zerek.

AS: Robert Bolesto was writing the script for Andrzej Konopka. We’ve made long casting sessions for the role of the Virgin, mainly among dancers. In fact, The Kindler and The Virgin compiles a couple of Masurian legends. The story turned out to be very capacious. We were writing it more than a year ago when the world was in fear of war. This is a story of a man who conspires with the Devil which leads to a conflict. We’re touching the topic of multiplying superstitions about the ways in which – even nowadays – one can provoke war. We’ve perceived Kindler as a historical equivalent of Breivik. A person of idealism and perfectionism.

MR: ‘The Island of the Soul Eater’ is set in East Prussia in about 1850. At that time the mentioned land was inhabited by Evangelicals and Catholics. Was it important for the script?

AS: No, it wasn’t. The power of religion and paganism played a greater role.

MR: The audience may have the impression that although your film refers to the tradition of historical film it is still very modern. Why do you keep the audience in such suspense?

AS: I think that horror is a genre which perfectly reflects contemporary phobias and fears – it can be illustrated by the example of German expressionism before the 2nd World War or Night of the Living Dead screened before the Vietnam War. My film was shot in fear of a psycho who uses the power of religion and politics to start a Great War.

MR: At the same time you’re proving that Polish legends can provide the basis for a fascinating story.

AS: The same applies to the myths, which describe inherent human fears, obsessions and darkness that hides deep down in human souls regardless of the time in which the events take place. Myths are very relevant because human nature doesn’t undergo changes. Evil is deeply rooted in the human being, and it can wake up every moment.

MR: How do you shape the form for your films? Is it so that each time you’re just trying not to constrain your imagination?

AS: I’m on a quest for new words and forms to tell old stories. The more abstract approach I adopt, the more interesting the process becomes for me. I think that what is important is the courage in juggling with genres, narration, and conventions. I don’t believe that films can be made only for their creators. They come into existence the moment they’re screened and discussed. The success comes when the picture is universal but to achieve this goal it also needs a unique language of the director – alongside the rule that ‘I’m the only one who can create such a picture, no one else’.

MR: You’ve made three films with Jakub Kijowski. Also, you’ve been working with Robert Bolesto from the very beginning of your career. What are the advantages of working with a stable artistic team?

AS: The team is very important. Especially so when we know each other well and we're sharing more and more mutual trust. I like working with Kuba and Robert – each of us is very different which is inspiring but sometimes it triggers arguments. But as long as it adds to the creative atmosphere it’s worth it.

Originally written in Polish, July 2018, translated by AS, Aug 2018

Language English

agnieszka smoczyńska

the lure

polish director