FILM OF THE MONTH

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Directed by Katarzyna Adamus/ Reviewed by Biplab Das Katarzyna Adamus’s Exhibition is a beautifully crafted animated film that talks about relationships. This 9-minute long film primarily depicts the life of a woman struggling to maintain a cordial relationship with his artist husband. The intricacies of human relationships, especially among those whose spouse/partner is an artist, are poignantly painted in the film. Exhibition revolves around the life of a painter name Henry who is bohemian. Henry’s lifestyle affects his wife deeply. He spends his time with different women. He spends most of his time at home smoking and drinking.  He prefers to have an artistic conversation with his wife, Maria. Maria also used to paint. This commonality paves their way to marriage. But at the beginning of the film, it seems that their relationship is not on good grounds. Henry suffers from heavy drinking and smoking. Maria discovers that Henry has mortgaged the house.  He even hides from the lender. Maria breaks down discovering that Henry has taken the loan. But Henry’s behavior doesn’t change towards his wife. When asked why he has mortgaged the house, Henry starts shouting at his wife. Maria decides to start painting and raise money to save his house. He buys items necessary to paint. At home, she finds that Henry has painted a new picture. She shouts at him whether it’s the new ‘slut’ with whom he has started spending time with. She is disgusted with the thought that he painted a new girl rather than painting her.  He shouts back at Maria angrily and leaves the house with another woman to visit the countryside. Maria decides to sell the painting at a gallery but she gets rejected by the gallery owner, Pat which prompted her to start painting. Maria spends a good amount of time with her cat. She couldn’t resist calling her daughter Veronika. She explains her position to Veronika and tells her that she needs to paint 19 pictures in a week to save the home. Veronika arrives at her home and starts painting with Veronika. All of her paintings get rejected. Finally, her all paintings get sold. Henry returns home and finds that Maria’s painting. He starts abusing her and complains about her work. Henry believes with having a secondary degree won’t make her a painter. She also shouts back at her. Henry again leaves the home with the girl he is dating now, making Maria furious. However, the film has a happy ending. Maria finally finds a buyer of her paintings which will probably help her to save the house and pay the first installment. Katarzyna Adamus tried to portray the intricacies of human relationships. She used the life of two artists who are married and living together but psychologically they’re far away from each other. The animated characters give the film an additional edge as the plot is not new to the audience. The film is a reminder of why people should give each other time to improve their relationships rather than holding onto their ego and frustrations.