"Where are dreams? Where is love? Where is this d... justice?" These pessimistic questions at the end of the movie are not asked by someone old who has got through the hardship and cruelty of war or Holocaust, but by a young girl from Poland, Mariola, whose psyche has forever been hurt. Putting it in the utmost frankness, Pena's film is, unlike many other films, an extreme movie. It is so powerful emotionally that its content makes even the toughest guys shocked and upset. It is not just a drama that makes people cry... what you get while and after watching the film is far more extreme than just tears. Viewers feel an undeniable, true empathy with the main character, a kind of feeling that is caused by the content of the film when everything in you cries out: Is this humane, is it possible that people don't hesitate to commit such crimes?"
CONTENT: The movie starts in a nice, even sentimental way. It is so called the "golden Polish fall" when we see the leaves falling onto the ground. A young gentle girl, Mariola (Anna Cieslak) falls in love with a boy she has known since the school years, Artur (Rafal Mackowiak) and enjoys spending her free time with him. But the feeling that grows in them is not an experienced love but rather seems to be a pure youth female - male sympathy. Although Mariola lives a very peaceful life with her Grandma (Barbara Walkowna), she primarily wants to be happy (who does not?) But where does she find happiness? In the arms of her boyfriend. She seems to place all her hope of future in him. One day, the young couple decide to go abroad. The trip to Germany at first is to be a two - week vacation but from the very beginning there is something weird in all of it. Actually, Artur does not tell Mariola what precisely they are going to do there. But love means trust and in this very feeling she leaves her beloved Grandma, her hometown and leaves for a journey that will play a decisive role in her later life and that will terribly affect her psyche; a journey that will have to turn her honest love into rotten lusts, her freedom of youth into unbelievable captivity, her name Mariola into Justine, and her hope and dreams into an unbearable shock and disappointment... I won't reveal more of the content because the film will do this itself. I can't promise anyone if he/she will like it or not. SPOILER: One thing is certain: there are unbearably brutal moments and sometimes, you will have to close your eyes. Yet, they are worth seeing in order to understand one critical truth - the world that knows no frank love is a real hell on earth!
CAST: The performances are generally very fine. The most important note must be made about a young Polish actress Anna Cieslak. She does a wonderful job as Mariola expressing her deep psychological states. Sometimes, she acts like a very experienced actress and her gestures are to that extend natural that you watch her performance and feel as if you watched realistically someone's tragedy. Anna Cieslak allows viewers to get to the psyche of her role. I will never forget the moment when the plans of Artur are revealed. In a brief, very brutal moment, she has that depressing blink in her eyes that people have when all their world seems to end so suddenly and unexpectedly. Rafal Mackowiak is also worth consideration as Artur, a boy who forgot what conscience and normal human feelings are. I also liked Arno Frisch as Niko, a character that is hard to figure out. Sometimes, he shows gentleness, but in some other moments, he seems to lack this, too. Finally, I must mention Mathieu Carriere, a very talented German actor. His role is very difficult since he plays a particularly evil character but he gives a very natural performance. Mathieu's portrayal shows us what it means to lose all that is humane...
There is one significant factor except for the cast and the extremely dramatic story that makes this film particularly powerful. That is the dense atmosphere. The film is full of VERY intense psychological moments which make people stare at the screen; they not only observe the tragedy but they, as if, take part in it and yet, obviously, they are not able to do anything to change this. As a result, this occurs to be a very difficult film, definitely not the one to be watched by children or viewers who easily get to despair. Yet, although it is rather hard, I think that this feeling of helplessness perfectly reveals the real world, how we usually see people suffering. Although, we sometimes try to help them, there is still very little we can do.
If you can stand violence, rape, extreme humiliation and personal tragedy showed in a film, I recommend you to see De Pena's movie. It is not just a film, but a story of a tragedy of innocent people, something the world is full of no matter if we live in the times called "Dark Ages" or in the times that call themselves "times of tolerance and freedom" See YOUR NAME IS JUSTINE and you will look at this world from a bit different perspective. Such questions like "What is a true love?" "Does the world care?" or "Where is justice?" will be considered in an entirely different way. By showing the world which lacks love and humanity, the world that deprives young people from joy of youth and freedom, it teaches how crucial this problem is. In other words, doesn't it show a need to build a different world now not to experience slavery in the 21st century of Christianity? A FILM THAT LEAVES MUCH TO REFLECT ON
CONTENT: The movie starts in a nice, even sentimental way. It is so called the "golden Polish fall" when we see the leaves falling onto the ground. A young gentle girl, Mariola (Anna Cieslak) falls in love with a boy she has known since the school years, Artur (Rafal Mackowiak) and enjoys spending her free time with him. But the feeling that grows in them is not an experienced love but rather seems to be a pure youth female - male sympathy. Although Mariola lives a very peaceful life with her Grandma (Barbara Walkowna), she primarily wants to be happy (who does not?) But where does she find happiness? In the arms of her boyfriend. She seems to place all her hope of future in him. One day, the young couple decide to go abroad. The trip to Germany at first is to be a two - week vacation but from the very beginning there is something weird in all of it. Actually, Artur does not tell Mariola what precisely they are going to do there. But love means trust and in this very feeling she leaves her beloved Grandma, her hometown and leaves for a journey that will play a decisive role in her later life and that will terribly affect her psyche; a journey that will have to turn her honest love into rotten lusts, her freedom of youth into unbelievable captivity, her name Mariola into Justine, and her hope and dreams into an unbearable shock and disappointment... I won't reveal more of the content because the film will do this itself. I can't promise anyone if he/she will like it or not. SPOILER: One thing is certain: there are unbearably brutal moments and sometimes, you will have to close your eyes. Yet, they are worth seeing in order to understand one critical truth - the world that knows no frank love is a real hell on earth!
CAST: The performances are generally very fine. The most important note must be made about a young Polish actress Anna Cieslak. She does a wonderful job as Mariola expressing her deep psychological states. Sometimes, she acts like a very experienced actress and her gestures are to that extend natural that you watch her performance and feel as if you watched realistically someone's tragedy. Anna Cieslak allows viewers to get to the psyche of her role. I will never forget the moment when the plans of Artur are revealed. In a brief, very brutal moment, she has that depressing blink in her eyes that people have when all their world seems to end so suddenly and unexpectedly. Rafal Mackowiak is also worth consideration as Artur, a boy who forgot what conscience and normal human feelings are. I also liked Arno Frisch as Niko, a character that is hard to figure out. Sometimes, he shows gentleness, but in some other moments, he seems to lack this, too. Finally, I must mention Mathieu Carriere, a very talented German actor. His role is very difficult since he plays a particularly evil character but he gives a very natural performance. Mathieu's portrayal shows us what it means to lose all that is humane...
There is one significant factor except for the cast and the extremely dramatic story that makes this film particularly powerful. That is the dense atmosphere. The film is full of VERY intense psychological moments which make people stare at the screen; they not only observe the tragedy but they, as if, take part in it and yet, obviously, they are not able to do anything to change this. As a result, this occurs to be a very difficult film, definitely not the one to be watched by children or viewers who easily get to despair. Yet, although it is rather hard, I think that this feeling of helplessness perfectly reveals the real world, how we usually see people suffering. Although, we sometimes try to help them, there is still very little we can do.
If you can stand violence, rape, extreme humiliation and personal tragedy showed in a film, I recommend you to see De Pena's movie. It is not just a film, but a story of a tragedy of innocent people, something the world is full of no matter if we live in the times called "Dark Ages" or in the times that call themselves "times of tolerance and freedom" See YOUR NAME IS JUSTINE and you will look at this world from a bit different perspective. Such questions like "What is a true love?" "Does the world care?" or "Where is justice?" will be considered in an entirely different way. By showing the world which lacks love and humanity, the world that deprives young people from joy of youth and freedom, it teaches how crucial this problem is. In other words, doesn't it show a need to build a different world now not to experience slavery in the 21st century of Christianity? A FILM THAT LEAVES MUCH TO REFLECT ON