Blog Post on Reverse

In Borys Lankosz’s film Reverse, the protagonists must conduct “business as usual” under the dramatically unusual circumstances that the Stalinist reign imposed on the citizens of Warsaw. Fear, paranoia and corruption are exhibited on two levels: through the main film plot and through the societal norms visible through the film’s depictions of Poland in 1952. The world is not a serene place and normalcy contains pernicious elements, such as corruption, fear and delinquent behavior. The secret police are portrayed as omnipresent and omnipotent in the film, maybe not observable directly but always perceptible in the background.  The family takes every single precaution to comply with the government’s edicts. Examples include the mother giving up her drugstore and Sabina’s brother painting artworks in the style of socialist realism.  One of the early scenes shows Sabina, the protagonist of the film, speaking to her mother and trying to figure out what to do with a small foreign gold coin that her mother owns. Sabina decides to hide the coin by systematically swallowing and excreting it every day. Sabina’s daily concealing of the gold coin marked “liberté” daily demonstrates a fear and a paranoia that reaches into private spaces – both domestic and human.

Reverse makes liberal use of film noir techniques. The choice to shoot the film in black and white, the stark contrasts with lighting, the unbalanced camera frames, and a few classic noir shots effectively made the film eerie and unnerving. The shadowy noir lighting of this film emphasizes the moral duality of its characters.  One of its most classically noir scenes of the film shows how Bronisław rescues Sabina from two robbers. The scene begins with Bronek’s face in shadow, which is then slightly illuminated by him lighting a cigarette. He looks like the epitome of a noir character with a stern face and trench coat.  In its new context the trench coat gains new meaning: in American noir film, the protagonist detective works in a trench coat, whereas in Stalinist Poland, the trench coat signals an informer. As the film continues, Bronek’s persona becomes increasingly sinister through noir tactics such as the wide-lens close up when he peers in at the front door and the “crowded” feeling the viewer gets as Bronek becomes physical with Sabina.
           Another noir technique that is frequently seen in Reverse is the use

of closely framed shots.  Seeing characters through peepholes, windows, or doorways amplifies the claustrophobic effect of film noir, especially because the camera usually starts zooming in so that we cannot see the entire person initially.  Mirrors are also prevalent in the film. Sabina’s full figure and face can only be seen within the mirror’s reflection. Mirrors are present in the bathroom as Sabina attempts to swallow the coin again. The presence of mirrors suggests that Sabina is always being watched, even if only by her own reflection. This lends itself to the heightened paranoia of the period.

Film noir’s iconic “rat in a maze” image occurs many times in Reverse, especially

after the murder of Bronek.  In one instance we see Sabina throw some belongings of Bronek from a bridge. The camera zooms out, and the viewer sees an image of Sabina standing alone with the ledge on one side and a moving train on the opposite side, engendering a sense of complete entrapment.  When Sabina and her mother Irena drag Bronek’s body up the stairs to her brother’s apartment, they are shot from above, positioning them as, in a sense, victimized villains.  A different kind of shot from above is used in filming Bronek’s rape of Sabina on her dining room table. She is again portrayed as powerless to extricate herself from that particular situation. Her powerlessness is two-fold; first she would be unable to physically restrain Bronek if she tried, and second, she is anxious and curious to experience sex, and restrains herself for that reason as well. The sex scene also features low-angle, strangely lit shots of Bronek, further painting him as distrustful.

The film unfolds from Sabina’s point of view, using the expressions on her face

to advance the narrative. This is congruent with noir films shot from the perspective of the detective or “private eye.” The development of the hero’s role is usually wrapped in mystery, where he is a loner and his personal life is no one’s business. Yet we delve into Sabina’s life at home with her mother and grandmother. Sabina alone is not the protagonist: her mother and grandmother are essential helpers in Sabina’s quest to survive and transcend the stifling throes of Stalinism. While initially appearing to be a fragile, innocent young woman, Sabina reveals herself to be a surprisingly strong character capable of killing to protect herself and those close to her.

Sabina lives modestly and keeps very much to herself.  Her bashful disposition makes it hard to imagine that she could be assertive. Pervasive fear makes her qualities mousey: she stutters and shakes when speaking to figures of authority, like her boss. She doesn’t have a commanding presence; despite her height, Sabina makes herself seem incredibly small and unimportant.  Yet Sabina does aspire to be heroic by performing subtle acts of defiance—such as attempting to swallow the forbidden gold coin instead of handing it over to the authorities. She is a quiet heroine, epitomized during the first time she swallows the coin and asks to hear music from Madame Butterfly. Swallowing the coin repeatedly to Italian opera music, Sabina envisions herself an extraordinary hero forced to live an ordinary life. She regrets not participating in the Uprising, which suggests that for most of her life, she could not muster the courage to act on her fantasies.

Lankosz clearly used Sabina’s character to show that the lives of civilians in Stalinist Poland were not the tales of heroes and villains that other Polish films portray. Instead, the lines were much more blurred – innocent civilians like Sabina simply wanted to continue their lives in peace, but were sometimes forced to take extreme actions. Her decision to kill Bronislaw and end his hold over her is swift and calculated. However, Sabina apologizes to Bronek after she poisons him. By killing Bronek, Sabina is not making a moral judgment. She is simply saving herself.  She aspires to be heroic when she volunteers to commit suicide after she murders Bronislaw. She does not want to create further problems for her family.

In noir films the femme fatale was a beautiful, duplicitous woman who seduces the main character with looks, charm, and sexual allure.  She aims to lower his defenses and lead him into a deadly situation. Reverse’s gender swapped noir adaptation continues with an homme fatale character.  Bronek is the secret policeman who begins a false courtship with Sabina, attempting to seduce her into informing on her boss. Bronek is seductive in his handsome looks and charming demeanor, “sly tactics [employed] to establish total control.” The elevator scene shows Bronek tightly embracing Sabina, all her office papers flying to the floor in disarray.  Bronek’s role is made more intriguing in that his character is historically based.  It did not take much imagination or exaggeration to develop a homme fatale in Soviet Poland, for history made many. Bronek symbolizes the state power which is beyond individuals’ control or understanding. His initial politeness and attractiveness allude to the communist regime’s promise of a stable, rich and simplistic future. His almost impossible knowledge of the gold coin represents the omnipotent police presence. The rape and the subsequent poisoning scene thus sets up the stage for the final confrontation between the male and female, the perpetrator and the victim, the state and the individual. In other words, the Stalinist state’s ugly, anti-artistic, masculine power speaks through Bronek’s body.

Sabina’s murder of Bronek thwarts the state’s intrusion into her private sphere of family.  She succeeds in hollowing out a shelter against the corruption, manipulation, and destruction of the State in that she successfully rids herself of Bronek, the enactor of the State’s will. However, in eradicating Bronek, Sabina embodies that corruption in herself, corrupting her morals to carryout murder.  Sabina wants the corruption and evils of Bronek to end with her generation by personally carrying the burden of truth. Her generation sacrifices, internalizing the ugly truth, to protect her son’s generation from the bleak atrocities of the past. The paintings of her brother Arkadiusz in the present flash-forwards also illustrate this internalized past; distorted skeletons and grey people fill his canvases.

Sabina is also able to create a new, better life.  Bronek’s rape left Sabina with child.  Through pregnancy and birth, she physically transforms this past atrocity into the hopeful future of her son. She lies to her son about his father, telling stories of Bronek defending Poland in the Warsaw Uprising. In the flash-forwards, her son is vibrant, kind, and confident. The lie that Sabina told him has allowed him to flourish.  Sabina’s sending of her son to America physically distances him from Polish communism. Furthermore, her son is openly gay—an idea that would never have been accepted in Bronek’s time but reflects the transition to Sabina’s view of a more progressive society in modern-day Poland.

The airport as one setting for the film’s flash-forwards is symbolic of all that Poland has become. It serves as a crossroads for the generations.  A board shows flights to and from every corner of the globe: New York, London, Paris, etc.  Poland has survived Communist times and become a modern force. But not one that forgets its past, as is evidenced by the shot of the cemetery on All Saints Day at the end of the film. Sabina’s commemorative gesture, lighting a candle at the Palace of Arts and Culture where she had buried the bones of Bronisław represents another nod to remembering the past.

Edited by Agata Kantorowska and Halina Krzystek