In a Polish village, at the very beginning of the 20th century, the beautiful Jagna loves the handsome Antek. Alas, he is already married to Hanka. But then Marciej, Antek’s father, who is also the richest of the peasants, in turn falls in love with Jagna. Very poor, the latter accepts Marciej’s marriage proposal. Which does not prevent the young woman from continuing her affair with Antek. What follows, over the course of four seasons, are family disputes, banishments, betrayals, revenge, rapes… Adaptation in painting on film of a novel that won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1924, The Peasants benefits from a remarkable workmanship, but is based, as it stands, on a story that is as thin as it is outdated.
It must be said that Władysław Reymont’s original work, initially published in four volumes, has almost 1000 pages. A great historical melodrama, the novel is considered a classic in Poland. However, the scenario proposed by DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman, who also co-direct, turns out to be as simplistic as possible, and above all prisoner of a backward-looking vision that has never been transcended.
Thus the torments inflicted on Jagna, as anchored in a historical reality as they are, quickly tire, even annoy: we sense no critical view, no contemporary comment. The archetypes of another time and the conventional situations are repeated as they are, as if the film had been made in 1924 rather than today.
The recent The promised landwith Mads Mikkelsen, offers a good counter-example of a historical plot benefiting from a modern approach.
Artistic labor
We will remember that we owe DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman, who form a couple in the city, the superb animated biographical drama Love Vincent (The Van Gogh passion), dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh. The technique of painting on film was self-evident in this specific case, especially since the style of the painter was then used. The bill this time taking on more realistic trappings, the bias appears a little less relevant this time.
Certainly, at first glance, the film is a triumph on a visual level. Fruit of immense artistic labor, The Peasants is in fact made up of 40,000 live action shots on which the co-filmmakers painted by hand. Respect.
Unfortunately, in the long run, the process comes to resemble those digital applications capable of giving a “painting finish” to any photo in one click. And this is where the film is caught up in the weakness of its story. In that with such a schematic background, even the most careful of forms ends up appearing superficial. In short, after admiring the setting, we look in vain for the jewel.