Following on from the success of Loving Vincent, which utilised an innovative technique of recreating frames of recorded live-action scenes as oil paintings, DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman have found a new way of exploring their unique aesthetic. The Peasants is an adaptation of Wladyslaw Reymont’s novel of the same name (written and released between 1904 and 1909), set in the village of Lipce in the late 1880s.
There’s a degree of familiarity in its tale about Jagna – a young woman who’s positioned as an outsider by her own community through little fault of her own While technically a story about the village, by the director’s own description Jagna is undeniably the focal character – which is also self-evident when watching the film. Kamila Urzedowska is mesmerising, ably portraying a young naivete that is gradually ground down and hardened by those who wish to exploit and condemn her at the same time. She’s toyed with by men but the subject of gossip as a “whore”, and scorned for being an heiress stealing the clothes belonging to the deceased wife before her, but this is all that’s expected of her as this is the role she’s forced to play. When told by one of her many courters to state what she wants, Jagna replies, “That’s easy for you to say”, as she has never been allowed to even consider what she wants, never mind to try and get it.
Even the way she dances with certain partners tells us so much about her, in particular how relaxed she is with Antek, who DK describes as her “anti-hero lover.” It’s established early on that Antek has a wife and child, immediately raising questions about his relationship with Jagna, and his combative relationship with his father, Boryna, soon extends to Jagna once the recently widowed Boryna is set up with her. What superficially seems like a tragic romance between Jagna and Antek is soon revealed to be based entirely on Antek’s sense of entitlement – his offer to her of freedom is one based on his terms.
I hope that the Welchman’s continue to create such vital cinema and prove how much more can be done with the form.
Having been selected as Poland’s submission for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards 2024, there’s a sense that the film is designed to feel classical in the way novels of this period feel. The artists they drew inspiration from were Polish painters of the period, predominately working in a realist style, but in contrast to Loving Vincent which was recreating a specific artist’s style, here the story comes first and the lifelike effect of oil painting enhances the live action footage. It’s hard to describe this effect except as the opposite of uncanny, and a form of hyper-realism where it really feels like an artistic version of reality – historically accurate in its details but allowing itself to use the form to go beyond reality.
The best examples of this are the transitions between seasons – what would be a standard montage in live action becomes a complete transformation of the world in animation. These sequences also demonstrate how the director’s eye for artistry is matched by their skill at storytelling. Indeed, the aesthetics are part of the storytelling, so as Jagna finds herself trapped in a lifeless marriage, the world around her becomes frozen and cold. In this way the film reflects how the villagers’ lives revolve around the land and its produce, and changes in the land are directly connected to how the villagers behave.
I feel as if I’ve barely scratched the surface of the richness this film offers, as well as the number of supporting characters with their own stories woven together. The score by Łukasz “L.U.C” Rostkowsk is magnificent, with the directors describing how it “had to speak for the characters, when they aren’t articulate enough or they don’t feel empowered”. Power is a predominant theme as while Jagda is told “Love comes and goes, but the land stays”, there’s a persistent question of who the land stays with. The peasants do not own the land and are at the mercy and whims of the Squire – a power dynamic that trickles down to how Jagda is treated by the village. The story may be predictable at times, especially if you’re familiar with these sort of classic Thomas Hardy-like narratives set in a pastoral village, but there’s plenty of drama and themes to unpick, as well as just being a well-told, engaging story. With this film establishing them as pioneers of mature animated storytelling, I hope that the Welchman’s continue to create such vital cinema and prove how much more can be done with the form.
The Peasants / Chlopi is out now in Selected Cinemas Nationwide
