In the last few years, as an extremely grateful genre in world cinema, I would highlight the biographical film, so-called biopic. Although the biopic doesn't necessarily represent a film novelty, this sudden rise in the interest of a film audience for non-fiction and at the same time, unconventional life stories can be justified by a fascination by achieving a high degree of authenticity, regardless of whether it is a direction, a script or an acting performance.
This genre, on a somewhat smaller scale, was also confirmed in European cinema, which approaches it with a certain dose of subtlety and melancholy. Filmed according to authentic events, The Last Family by Jana P. Matuszyński portrays the family life of Zdzisław Beksiński, one of the most famous Polish artists of the twentieth century who in his work specializes in the field of dystopian surrealism.
The Last Family in its center has a three-member family Beksiński whose life we follow for nearly thirty years. Zdzisław Beksiński is also a prominent Polish well-known artist whose character embodies Andrzej Seweryn. In many reviews of his life, his mild and modest personality and the introvert nature, behind which were quite disturbing thoughts that were mostly manifested through his artistic work. Feelings of anxiety and some sort of discomfort were seen as an integral part of his artistic expression, and his roots dragged from his private and family life, which, regardless of his own and the efforts of his wife Zofia (Alexander Konieczna), could be defined as dysfunctional.
The married couple lives with two old mothers who Zofia is taking care of everyday, and in their neighborhood, in one of the tall and cold buildings, and located in an environment that has suffered the consequences of the war, lives their son, Tomasz (Dawid Ogrodnik), publicly known as a music critic and translator. His neurotic nature distinguishes him as a completely eccentric character who, because of his emotional instability, is unable to achieve a functional relationship with a woman, and demands the daily care of parents who try to prevent his potential suicide.
Nevertheless, The Last Family doesn't bear the title of a dramatic, but at best an intimate and deeply disturbing insight into a fragile family life. This subtlety found its place with extreme. Namely, after Tomasz attempted to take away his own life in one of the attacks of manic depression, Zdzisław Beksiński, tells the doctor in charge of the recovery of his son, that he fully acknowledges that suicide is a brave act, and that it may be best to stop fighting for the life of a man who doesn't want to live.
As a basis for Robert Bolest's script, they used authentic videos recorded by the artist during his lifetime, so the director decides for a documentary approach to the previously presented content. The artist's obsessive need to store events from his own life, which varies from mirror-reflection to recording to the burial of a deceased member of the family, allowed the director access to a certain level of voyeurism.
Matuszyński, at the very beginning is showing the clip of conversation Zdzisław Beksiński leads with his biographer in one of the last days of the artist's life. In the conversation artist speaks about his hidden and bizarre wishes closely related to sexual sadism and violence, citing that his peaceful and sophisticated nature doesn't allow him to think of doing such an act.
Despite acknowledging his own disturbing and bizarre fantasies, Zdzisław Beksiński retains his status as a victim of tragic life circumstances in the eyes of the viewer, and it's almost impossible to connect allusions to pronounced sexuality with an artist who doesn't share a bed with his wife. Awareness of the lost past, the desires and fears that every man has the right to think and dream about, The Last Family is on the verge of reality and fantasy that intertwine in the feelings of regret and loss but whose tragedy alleviates humor and love.
This was my translation from Croatian to English from Ziher hr article ''Tragična i očaravajuća obiteljska odiseja'' by D.Ivezic
