Peculiar Photogenicity: On “The Noose” by Wojciech Jerzy Has

Iwona Grodź

Abstract

In this article Grodź tries to look at The Noose (the director’s first feature film) from the perspective of its visual organisation whose elements indicate a close relation with expres­sionist aesthetics. The vividness of The Noose is a result of the „photogenicity” of Marek Hlasko’s short story it is the adaptation of. However, the director’s painterly imagination plays the most important role as Has was inspired by plastic arts from the start of his creative work. In this connection the analysis and interpretation of the film concentrates on a descrip­tion of the plastic layer of the movie. The subject of detailed explorations is the defining of the importance and functions of the use of light, of elements of set design which make the plasticity of the movie noticeable. The elements include an arrangement of space: of a flat of the main character, of the „Pod Orłem” joint and of the town. Also defined is the symbolic meaning of the props, costume, etc. A final conclusion is the assertion that the „Expressionism” of The Noose should not only be identified with a narrowly defined trend in plastic arts of the early 20th century. It is important to emphasize that such ontology may be connected with a more general idea of the inner unity of what is shown and hidden.