Family dynamics vary. In the case of 15-year-old Eryk (Eryk Walny), his life revolves around a gaggle of women working on a goose farm. He faces verbal abuse on a daily basis, prompting him to treat 13-year-old neighbour Klaudia shabbily. Born into a background that lacks respect, Eryk is nevertheless forced to answer for the sexual abuse he inflicts on a minor in this probing work.
Light as Feathers was released in 2018, roughly one year after the Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey allegations. This Polish movie scans differently viewed in that light. Director Rosanne Pel makes us empathise with the central character. As with every tragedy, the psychology of the assailant needs to be taken into consideration.
Eryk likes to sit and laze around as any teenager would, but he’s taunted with jibes at his idle laziness. Evidently, this isn’t a happy home, clearly seen in the lighting: the adolescent sits between flat, lifeless palettes splattered across the wall. The living room is drab and devoid of energy; he sleeps on crumpled sheets. Paper-thin walls barely conceal his mother’s rage: “you’re a lorry driver, I never know where you are,” she screams at her lover. Pel is occasionally guilty of punching-up the anguish – a cat is thrown across the kitchen purportedly to give the audience a ‘giggle’ ” – but Walny carries the inner turmoil with a maturity not often seen among actors of his youth.
Relying on sighs to do the heavy-lifting, Walny’s Eryk is a character of few discernible facial tics, yet he never wavers from the intrinsic pain. He continues this excrutiating expression as he prepares to mount a girl (yes, that is the apposite verb) clearly unprepared for any form of sexual pleasure or exercise. It’s during this moment that Pel’s penchant for stilted camerawork makes most sense, allowing viewers to impart their opinions and feelings onto the protagonists across the screen. As it happens, Klaudia implores Eryk to “stop”, but he proceeds to hammer her. “Your body really aroused me,” comes the excuse, even though the lover in question has to shelter herself in a fluffy blanket afterward.
His grandmother suspects something is amiss, especially as he pressures a girl to eat a sandwich following volleyball practice. Without a proper male adult influence, Eryk has to rely on toxic “gangster” tropes to swear off. He acts like an “alpha-male” his friends encourage him to be, and there’s no father to tell him off. In the environment this teen has grown in, geese get the most amount of love and affection. Tenderness isn’t shown towards other humans.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, Light as Feathers feels like an added warning; proof that rape isn’t an extension of ego. Instead, it is a repercussion of a lack of education and authority. No doubt about it, Eryk molested the girl, noticing her hesitation and ignoring it. This type of appalling actions can be rectified through love and respect towards teenagers in Eryk’s position, who should learn from an early age to treat everyone from animals to humans with the respect he wishes to receive in turn.
The #Metoo movement alerted Hollywood to the signs of abuse, just as this feature serves as a fable how young boys in Eryk’s shoes can fall victim to crime. Light as Feathers has travelled exceedingly well in terms of performance and narrative.
Light as Feathers streams for free during the entire month of December as part of ArteKino – just click here now for more information.
