MovieChat Forums > Una pura formalità (1995) Discussion > Polanskian Elements

Polanskian Elements

posted 16 years ago by TemporaryOne-1
8 replies | jump to latest

First I want to say that A Pure formality is a masterpiece film, 10/10, Gerard Depardieu and Polanski were equally brilliant, they were equally complimentary to each other and fed off of each other throughout the entire film.

Even though Polanski did not direct the film or supervise the writing of the script or supervise the photo direction or set design, A Pure Formality is a cornucopia of Polanski trademarks, perhaps this film was a homage to Polanski.

There are antique furnishings, eyes peeking through key holes, a physically menacing building, a mention of a winding staircase (from Onoff's novel), the metal tin of warm milk is similar to a can (Polanski always plants heavy soup cans in his films), the cabinet is the cupboard, the mention of a train station, master/servant relationship (Onoff-Inspector), isolated locations, isolated and alienated and lonely and paranoid characters, claustrophobia, Onoff is childless, oppressed/oppressor relationship (Onoff-Inspector), the lead character is visiting a country he does not live in (Frenchman in Italy), biblical and mythical references (Judgment, Afterlife, Charon, etc), the soundtrack is orchestral but Europeanesque and fast-paced and jazzy and contains bits of music similar to the scores for Polanski's films The Tenant and The Ninth Gate and Frantic and Knife In The Water, the photo direction and setting is rustic and gothic and Europeanesque, and there is an abundance of absurd Polanskianeque wit (the animal trap, the leaks, all that typing andthe pages were blank, the pens not working, Inspector stepping in a bowl of water, using drenched rags to sop up a flood of water, etc).

There are also other references to Polanski's films - Onoff jumps out of a window which parallels Polanski as Trelkovski (The Tenant) jumping out of a window, the Inspector forced Onoff to confront his life and his past just as Paulina Escobar (Death And The Maiden) forced Miranda to confront his life and his past, Onoff is chased by personal demons which lead him to suicide and purgatory then the afterworld and/or hell just as Corso (The Ninth Gate) is chased by personal demons and a Devil which leads him to ascend to either Heaven (my belief) or hell, the list can go on forever.

Intricate film, thank you Giuseppe Tornatore.

[–] djsnafu23 16 years ago

Great analysis- I also was reminded of several Polanski films, but you verbalised it ideally.

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[–] teejay6682 15 years ago

i thought about polanski's early films too as well as orson welles' "the trial" and some other things. depardieu and polanski were amazing in this film. i think polanski's a better actor when he's not directing cause he was great in this.

[–] Bree_33 14 years ago

The soundtrack is orchestral but Europeanesque and fast-paced and jazzy and contains bits of music similar to the scores for Polanski's films The Tenant and The Ninth Gate and Frantic and Knife In The Water

Ennio Morricone is the film composer of A Pure Formality.He worked with Polanski in Frantic(he did the original score)

About the Polanskian Elements:The sound, the water dripping from the ceiling, it is similar to Repulsion(faucet dripping).The rain resembles"Death and the Maiden"

But this is not a truly "Polanski film" . The ending is so anti-polanskian.Too supernatural.

Polanski is more realistic,he plays tricks on us.The supernatural elements in his films are more like... products of the mind of his protagonists, he does not tell us that a woman really had a baby from the devil or that witches are "real". They exist in the paranoidal mind of his characters.

I read this book about Roman Polanski, it says something interesting about "water".

This element is always present in his films: from Two Man and a Wardrobe to Chinatown.

His "water" trilogy” are: Knife in the Water, Cul-de-Sac and What?
Bad weather in: Death and The Maiden ,Macbeth,Tess(as in A pure formality)

His characters in bathtubs: Repulsion, Dance of the Vampires,Bittermoon,The Pianist

Course I'm respectable. I'm old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.
(Noah Cross_ Chinatown)

[–] TemporaryOne-1 14 years ago

Ennio Morricone - I know, I own the scores to most of Polanski's films, including Frantic, and I own some of Morricone's lesser known scores (which I think are brilliant).

The ending is so anti-polanskian.Too supernatural...They exist in the paranoidal mind of his characters.

I agree, and remember that everything that occurs in this film occurs within the mind of Onoff.

I love the water trademarks - I wrote a long list (with another user) of Polanski's trademarks many years ago, on Roman's board.

I lost many of my Roman files when I switched computers, but I still have the trademarks file.

One day I'm going to re-watch Chinatown. Chinatown is the one and only Roman film I never liked. I haven't watched it in at least 5 years.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jovo-dodik 11 years ago

I realize this is an old post, but nevertheless great observations TemporaryOne. There is also a mouse trap, which is a reference to one of early Polanski shorts (also the metaphor in the movie).

PS. BTW, as for the Chinatown, it's an homage to American film noir (not melodramas, but detective stories of 30s and 40s, noir-noir so to speak), but with the twist. As that genre was exploited beyond belief (in Hollywood and elsewhere), most commonly by using just the gimmicks and lacking the real story and real-life characters. So he is reversing all the gimmicks in the move (which I found entertaining), for example:
1. Private detectives are usually poor - Jack Nicolson's characters is rich (obviously successful in business). Usually they rent some office, JN is using the entire building.
2. JN's character is not (reformed) alcoholic.
3. Everything is in vivid colors, even the clothes, (contrast to b/w).
4. Usually, private eyes consider ex-husband-wife/divorce jobs as the lowest kind of jobs; and even if they would accept those jobs they wouldn't be very proud of it. Here, JN is making a business out of it; made them his specialty, and he's not ashamed of it one bit. (He appears proud actually lol)
5. Private eyes are alone wolfs. JN's character is having not only one but several assistants.
There is probably more, I would have to see it again too.

[–] henrimaine 10 years ago

Good points. This is very much a Polanski-film. I don't know any background information about the film, but I would guess that Polanski had a central place in the making of this film for director Tornatore. Even though Polanski did not participate in the writing or directing, Tornatore probably made this film for Polanski, so to speak.

[–] ENIDO (165) 7 years ago

interesting