Movie review «Reflection»

On May 16, Valentyn Vasyanovych’s drama «Reflection», which became the first Ukrainian film in the last three decades to compete for the main award at the Venice Film Festival, finally reaches theaters. In the review below, we analyze the similarities and differences between «Reflection» and the director’s previous work «Atlantis», and why this film does not fall within the standard framework of recommendation of any review.

«Reflection»

Genre drama
Director Valentyn Vasyanovych
Starring Roman Lutskiy, Nika Myslinska, Nadiya Levchenko, Andriy Rymaruk, Ihor Shulha, Oleksandr Danyliuk
Premiere movie theaters
Year of issue 2021
Website IMDb2

014, the beginning of Russian armed aggression against Ukraine. Surgeon Serhiy goes to his daughter Polina’s birthday party, where he meets his ex-wife Olga and her current husband Andriy. The latter has just returned from the ATO zone, but he does not plan to enjoy a quiet peaceful life and announces that he will soon go back to the front. According to him, Serhiy realizes that the situation there is extremely difficult.

Later, he also joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a military medic in Donbas, but while transporting a wounded man, he came across an enemy checkpoint and became a prisoner of the Russian army. There, Serhiy has to face the horror of torture of Ukrainian soldiers and find out during interrogations whether they are still alive. When fate gives the man a chance to return to his former life, he realizes that it is a priori impossible.«Reflection» can be compared with Vasyanovych’s previous film «Atlantis», which is made in the same detached and depressive style in terms of form and mood. The film was reviewed at the Venice Film Festival and won in the «Horizons» program. The main role was played by Andriy Rymaruk, a veteran of the war in Donbas, who also appeared in «Reflection».

Thus, the two films echo each other and form a kind of dilogy on the topic of the Russian-Ukrainian war, where one tells the story of the beginning of this conflict, and the other takes us to 2025 when the fighting has already ended. However, as Vasyanovych himself admitted, there is much more room for hope in «Atlantis».Indeed, «Reflection» is far from any hint of optimism and is extremely painful and difficult to watch. This is a harsh and uncompromising auteur film, which, at the same time, does not turn into a manipulative propaganda tool. Unlike the Russian audience, the Ukrainian audience does not need to prove who is who, as everything is clear to everyone. The narratives of «Reflection» are deeper, and Vasyanovych’s expressive means are more complex than in typical genre cinema, let alone propaganda.

If you are interested in the history of the project, the director’s thoughts on propaganda cinema as such, and the state of Ukrainian cinema during the war, I suggest watching his interview with «Suspilne Novyny» in the fall of 2022. The film was presented at «Kyiv Critics’ Week».»:

Watching «Reflection» — is not only a painful experience, but also a startling one. It is difficult to watch a movie not only because of what it shows, but also because of the way it is done. The film follows the cinematic language of «Atlantis»: here again, Vasyanovych demonstrates almost total detachment, but, paradoxically, it is not least because of this detachment that the protagonist deserves an audience response. Roman Lutsky, whom you may have seen in «The Stronghold», also deserves a lot of credit for this.

It is achieved mainly through deep mise-en-scene. In the very first scene, the characters are engaged in a dialog in the foreground, while in the background, the girl Polina is having fun on a symbolic paintball court. Thus, almost every scene here is a mini-story, with its own drama and climax. And a significant number of them rhyme in a certain way. That’s what makes you stick to the screen, even in those moments when watching becomes very uncomfortable.In fact, Vasyanovych’s allegory is also in order. The terrible situation related to the death of a special brother; the deeply traumatized Serhiy; the pigeon that crashed through the apartment window and fell to his death and his symbolic funeral — everything is interconnected. The doomed bird left a cursed mark on the glass, and it will not be easy to remove it, i.e. to get rid of the emotional wound. Only over time, heavy rain will wash away the mark, just as tears can heal a crippled soul.

In the first case, the viewer will witness an indescribably painful scene that can be interpreted in different ways (as emphasized by Vasyanovych in the above-mentioned interview). In the second —, the theme of the experience of a person who has been in the hell of Russian captivity cannot share the most intimate things even with the closest ones, fearing judgment and lack of understanding. Reflections such as «is there life after death?», which, of course, relates to the PTSD factor and is more relevant today than ever.

For example, a shabby garage with a Russian truck with the inscription «humanitarian aid», which houses a mobile crematorium. Or when there is constant bad weather outside the window of the protagonist’s seemingly comfortable apartment. And you can’t even dream of musical accompaniment here. All of this works to create the appropriate atmosphere and characterize the protagonist’s catastrophic internal state.

«Reflection» belongs to the category of films that you don’t watch as a story, but rather live through, reflect on together with the character. It would be inappropriate to make any assessment of such a work, as well as recommendations (or not) to the audience, given that the film can affect the already shaken psyche of each of us. But it makes no sense to deny the fact that this is a worthwhile and painfully relevant auteur film.