Juraj Herz’s Method for Styling Reality: The Case of “Morgiana”
Abstract
Juraj Herz’s Morgiana (1972) is considered to be the last film of the Czech New Wave. Piotrowski points to the ambiguity of this attribution: although Herz’s film is the fruit of a certain “school” and its aesthetic consequence, it was made under the conditions of standardisation, introduced by the communist government of Czechoslovakia after the crushing of the Prague Spring (it meant the end of artistic freedom, the fall of cinema and the return to the aesthetics of socialist realism). This is evidenced by the critical reception of Morgiana, depreciated as – merely – “a poetic horror” and “romantic parable” about the victory of ideal good over blatantly perfect, hideous evil. In Herz’s film nothing is clear: the film, in part due to the double role of Iva Janzurovä, appears as a palimpsest, suggesting that the film world is a metaphor, and remains in opposition to the reality outside of film. Piotrowski shows that the masterfully put together, multilevel stylisation is in Morgiana a medium of cinema d’auteur, a source of distance and bitter irony and a mask concealing a political and ethical message.
Keywords:
Juraj Herz, Czechoslovakian New Wave, palimpsestReferences
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Authors
Grzegorz Piotrowskikwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
University of Gdańsk Poland
Muzykolog, adiunkt na Uniwersytecie Gdańskim i wykładowca Akademii Muzycznej w Gdańsku. Specjalizuje się w twórczości Jarosława Iwaszkiewicza, teorii i praktyce muzyki popularnej oraz jazzu, aktorstwie filmowym, szkle Huty Niemen, sztuce gejowskiej.
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