ANJELI PLACU / CRYING
OF ANGELS
DIRECTOR: ZUZANA PIUSSI
SLOWAKEI / SLOVAKIA 2005
54 MIN / BETA SP, COLOR, OV w. engl. ST
Caligari: 08.04. / 1.30 pm
Bellevue-Saal: 09.04. / 8.00 pm
DIRECTOR:
Zuzana Piussi
SCREENPLAY:
Zuzana Piussi
CAMERA:
Zuzana Piussi
EDITOR:
Frantisek Krähenbiel
PRODUCER:
Robert Kirchhoff
PRODUCTION:
Atelier.doc, Bratislava
DISTRIBUTION:
Atelier.doc, Bratislava
Tel.: 00421 - 2 / 602 020 16
Fax: 00421 - 2 / 654 207 68
e-mail: office@atelierdoc.sk
Homosexuals who make no secret of their sexual orientation meet with
considerable difficulties in many post-Communist countries, especially
ones where the church is influential. Playwright and director Zuzana Piussi
spent more than a year documenting the lives of gay couples in Bratislava,
and was allowed to get astonishingly close to her subjects. Her documentary
shows the tensions between the individual search for happiness and the
norms of society, but also includes the adversities of everyday life.
One man is voted out of the competition for the “Slovak Superstar”
title; a smugly heterosexual civil servant condescendingly tells one couple
why they cannot adopt a child; a Catholic verger has to cope with the
conflict between his religion and his sexuality. The yearning for normality
we witness throughout the film is conveyed with intimate, yet tactful,
intensity. And the question inevitably arises: Is the sanctuary of partnership
made stronger or weaker by a potentially hostile environment, does the
added strain to which they are exposed make them more stable or more fragile?
And so alongside all the scenes of love and affection ANJELI PLACU also
shows us the embittered desperation of a lovesick man who wishes he could
be heterosexual. All the same: The weeping angel described in a sentimental
pub ballad is not typical of the basic tone of Zusa Piussi’s positive
and cautiously optimistic film.
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