Katalin Varga (Peter Strickland, 2008)

[MichaelB]

Strickland's second feature Berberian Sound Studio is now in production.

[Finch]

Toby Jones as the lead - this has piqued my interest now.

[MichaelB]

...as has the fact that a man who has been obsessed with sound design ever since he saw Eraserhead is making a film about a sound designer's psychological problems.

The fact that he's got Nic Knowland on board as cinematographer also bodes well - I interviewed him at length about eighteen months ago for the BFI's Institute Benjamenta Blu-ray, and he'd seem to have exactly the right sensibility.

[Nothing]

? Strickland knows nothing about sound design - indeed he strikes me as one of the least technically knowledgable directors around. The post-production on Katalin Varga was delayed for two years b/c he couldn't face up to the task of editing and mixing the footage. It only came together by chance when an East-European co-producer became involved, and it was this co-producer who brought in Bela Tarr's team to do the sound (their work being the reason it won the award in Berlin). Notable that, for the new one, the editor of Slumdog Millionaire is already attached, ready to knock things into a nice commercial shape for his bosses at Film Four ...

[tajmahal]

I had the same sensation watching the pivotal scene in the boat as I did with the brilliant audition scene in Christian Petzold's Gespenster. Katalina Varga may not be perfect, but it is, along with Winter's Bone, a perfect example of how good storytelling is the backbone of a compelling film. The technical aspects are to be appreciated and admired, but if you believe in the characters, and are compelled to follow them in the journey they undertake (whether they take it willingly or otherwise) then the film succeeds in the most basic and important way - to keep the watcher watching, willingly, til' the end.

[therewillbeblus]

As a devoted hater of the “rape-revenge” thriller, I have finally found an exception to my rule, though I shouldn’t have been surprised given the filmmaker. This was just extraordinary. Strickland subverts any preconceived notions of genre tropes and creates something completely original with a logic that quietly reveals itself as the film progresses against one we’re accustomed to from this genre, movies in general, or hell even psychology from our objective vantage point- one that is full of blind spots by nature of ignoring the necessity to delve into the subjective to access the characters’ own inner narratives, which is as significant as the objective one we’re simultaneously presented with. The structure and space allow for this gradual process to sober us to the narrative’s many mysteries, and it’s a testament to Strickland’s talent that he’s able to utilize a traditionally basic outline to create something so unique. Also, now that we’ve seen his later films, this post is particularly confounding:

Strickland knows nothing about sound design - indeed he strikes me as one of the least technically knowledgable directors around.

I stumbled upon Strickland’s own analysis of his intent, which may have been what was linked to his blog earlier in the thread but that link didn’t work for me, so I’ll just post it here:

Spoiler

Working within an existing genre allows you to instantly set-up expectations, so in that sense you already have a head-start in terms of how you can manipulate an audience. Any viewer expecting a rape-revenge will not get their money’s worth, but hopefully that initial surprise or disappointment can prove enriching. Also working within a genre has its restrictions, which force you as a writer and director to push against those barriers. It’s far more creatively stimulating to work within a set of rules or framework. If I asked you to write a story about a gourmet, his doctor and a mule on a raft, you’d probably come up with something. However, if I asked you to write about anything, it wouldn’t be so stimulating. So to work with existing rules and archetypes allows you to perhaps subvert them or at least put the humanity back into archetypes. The music that I really respond to also works within restrictions, and I think there is far more creative freedom when you place those barriers upon yourself instead of just indulging.

There’s also this feeling that so much has been done on this subject yet we still have so far to go in terms of what we can communicate about it. Some viewers have been angered by the fact that the rapist in ‘Katalin Varga’ is portrayed so sympathetically. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I as a person or as a filmmaker have forgiven him. The crux of this set-up was to ‘stay out of it’ because as soon as I give my opinion whether in interview or blatantly onscreen, the audience potentially don’t think for themselves so much. It really was essential to avoid anything didactic. If the assailant continues to act like the assailant, the audience potentially haven’t engaged. So the set-up is there to disappoint and ultimately reward. By not showing the rape, by not having any closure and by not having the ‘bad guy’ be the bad guy that you want him to be. It is human nature to want bad people to remain bad, so we can justify our condemnation. Some people don’t want to be proved wrong! It is frustrating both for the viewer and for Katalin that someone who did something so terrible can be so reformed, but sorry for the cliché – this is life, and how do we deal with this? The film does turn this question on us – our judgement or sense of justice as an audience. Who administers justice? What point of view do we adopt? – Katalin’s justice, traditional legal justice, divine justice, audience justice, justice of the other characters in the film? If we had made this film from the point-of-view of ‘the police’ fella who kills Katalin at the end, it would be a ‘happy’ ending. He doesn’t know why she killed his brother-in-law. For me, those two characters are in harmony at the end. He feels as fully justified as her.

The aspect of revenge is also a hall of mirrors and I also wanted to show the collateral damage. The Gergely character is a sleaze and he’s not remotely endearing, but usually we as an audience wouldn’t consider the consequences of his murder. As soon as we and Katalin hear that he has kids, the dynamic changes. It should be stressed that although this might be a lot of fun to write with all these shifts, this is real life. The film is not realistic at all to me, but the emotional truth within is. I’m only presenting a logical consequence of events that one would encounter in real life if taking a path of revenge.

Revenge is the one crime that will always be a grey area. It’s the only crime that pretty much every human could consider. It’s a crime full of contradictions both politically and religiously and it is relevant. It’s an endless labyrinth and if I knew the answers, I wouldn’t have made this film.

Reading that cements a relativist complex worldview that I share better than I can describe. When artist and philosopher meet like this, it doesn’t get much better.

[swo17]

Yes yes yes yes yes, it's been heartening to be on the Strickland train from the very beginning

[Grand Wazoo]

Yes yes yes yes yes, it's been heartening to be on the Strickland train from the very beginning

I bought the dvd back in 2011 because of your effusive praise Swo, and I assume many others here did the same. Despite loving it, I still would not have guessed that Strickland would go on make two of my favorite films of this decade and become one of the most exciting filmmakers we have. I wish there was an easier way to show this to my friends in the US aside from lending them the PAL dvd. C'mon Criterion...

[swo17]

Well and I was just following MichaelB's recommendation

[domino harvey]

As a devoted hater of the “rape-revenge” thriller, I have finally found an exception to my rule

But this isn’t the Lipstick thread =;

[therewillbeblus]

As a devoted hater of the “rape-revenge” thriller, I have finally found an exception to my rule

But this isn’t the Lipstick thread =;

I have that one on order from the library for the horror project, so time will tell!

[swo17]

Lipstick is good too. When you call yourself a "hater of the rape-revenge thriller," I suspect you mostly mean you don't like I Spit on Your Grave

[MichaelB]

Virgin Spring has its moments as well.

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah but it extends to examples that try to do something different like last year’s The Nightingale or ones that tend to be a bit more well-liked and “empowering” like Abel Ferrara’s Ms. .45. I do think you’re right and it’s a specific vibe though, because The Virgin Spring is great (though it builds to this only later after a more peripheral account of moods and story) and something like Elle does a complete 180 degree turn on the subgenre and was excellent.