European Films

Persona non grata, the new film from renowned Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi (Rok spokojnego slonca/The Year of the Quiet Sun) wants to be a psychological drama set in the world of international diplomacy. It obsesses about people’s obsession with secrets and suspicions and also tries penetrate the enigma of Polish identity by looking at Poles in a foreign environment, but Zanussi focuses too much on action and not enough on character to make the film worthwhile.

Back in his home country for the funeral of his wife, the Polish ambassador to Uruguay Wiktor (Zbigniew Zapasiewicz) meets his old acquaintance Oleg (Nikita Mikhalkov) again, now the vice minister of foreign affairs from Russia. Wiktor suspects Oleg from having had an affair with his wife twenty years earlier, when they met in communist Poland. They meet again in Montevideo, where Wiktor is based and where he tries to stay on top of things despite the recent passing of his wife. The professional and the personal start to mix when Wiktor comes to the understanding that there is a spy in his embassy probably working for the Russians; prime suspects are the newly arrived consul Waldemar (Andrzej Chyra), who studied in Russia, and his Russian-born wife Oksana (Maria Bekker).

The persona non grata of the title might in the end refer to Wiktor himself. His obsessions and suspicions propel the plot, but being a distracted drinker in mourning, his motivations for his actions might be completely selfish. This is the film’s greatest weakness; the man who suspects everyone of everything is an emotionally unstable man, but the film never focuses on his emotional state but only on his physical actions. What are we, as an audience, to make of such a man and why should we care for his obsessions? The film’s own obsession is with moving ahead with the suspicion plot rather than pausing for an examination of who these characters really are and why they might think and act like they do. Similarly, its investigation of "Polishness" and the strained relationship with their big neighbours the Russians only ever skirts the surface and is never allowed to be developed in depth.

     

The actors are obviously victims of the film’s screenplay (written by the director) because their characters are only called upon to do actions rather than display emotions. Unfortunately, the cast does not succeed in giving their characters any extra emotional weight and this ultimately hurts Persona non grata beyond repair, despite a perfectly haunting score by Zanussi-regular Wojciech Kilar. Without a clear exploration of the emotional issues at hand and no attachment to any of the characters, watching the actions of the protagonists in Persona non grata is akin to watching a game of chess without knowing the rules; the pieces move and there will be a winner and a loser or perhaps a tie, but there is nothing of the tension and emotions of a good game of chess.

 

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