BFI London Film Festival: Body

BFI London Film Festival: 238 films. From 71 countries. 16 cinemas. 12 days. One Festival.

The human body, in both corporeal form and ethereal manifestation, provides the loose theme for Małgorzata Szumowska’s (Elles, 33 Scenes from a Life) blackly droll and entirely distinctive meditation on grief, which surprises at almost every turn. The film weaves together the stories of three interconnected, but radically different people – Janusz, a criminal prosecutor numbed by routine over-exposure to dead bodies; his daughter Olga, who is dealing (or not) with self-esteem issues and an eating disorder; and Olga’s unconventional psychotherapist who may be able to communicate with souls from beyond the grave.

Each of them is emotionally crippled by the loss of a loved one and it might just take a trip to the spirit world to right what’s wrong. Szumowska has crafted an eccentric and highly enjoyable film that overflows with ideas and continues to prove her as one of contemporary Poland’s most thought-provoking directors.

(Notes by Clare Stewart)

Body, dir. Scr Małgorzata Szumowska, Poland 2015, 90 mins.