Providing humans with animal
features as a gateway into social commentary regarding individuality, sexuality
and eventual ostracizing seems to be the newfound trend in modern
cinema. Two years ago we saw the
mermaid/body horror musical The Lure from
Poland and now here is Zoology from
Russia. The second feature from newcomer
Ivan I. Tverdovsky, Zoology concerns
Natasha (Natalya Pavlenkova), a lonely middle-aged woman who lives at home with
her mother when she isn’t being berated by her co-workers at a local zoo.
One morning however, she
awakens with a strange physical abnormality: a tail. After seeing a young doctor about her strange
new appendage, she quickly begins an affair with the doctor. Thus begins this sad and isolated woman’s
journey towards…self-discovery?
Transcendence? Sexual
awakening? Self-destruction? Zoology
touches on all of these notions in this offbeat, oddly romantic fairy tale which
doesn’t quite hit the nail on the head like Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Ali: Fear Eats the Soul but is clearly spoken
of the same breath regarding the social outcast and the age gap between the
elder woman and her young lover.
Shot in a style akin to the
Dardenne Brothers’ shaky hand-held camerawork with tracking shots which follow
behind the actor’s head as well as including frequent whip-pans, Zoology places you in this downbeat old
woman’s shoes. Thanks in large part to
Natalya Pavlenkova’s daring performance, exposing herself in a light most
actresses would be afraid to be seen, Zoology
functions as an often compelling and poignant character study. Conformity is the social order in Zoology, thus emboldening Natasha’s self-confidence
and sexual drive. The poster image alone
should clue viewers in to what kind of new behaviors and sensations Natasha indulges
in the wake of her new appendage.
Like Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan, it also paints Russia as a dismally
barren open sea with decrepit buildings, cold weather and little to nothing
differentiating the impoverished from the wealthy. Adding to the film’s bleak visual schema are
the preexisting piano tunes which cast a dark shadow over the proceedings. Even when things seem to be on the upward for
Natasha, the music suggests otherwise. Sound
design is often minimalist and deliberately understated save for one sequence of
Natasha attending a nightclub, largely staying within the insular and quiet
perspective of Natasha.
Deadpan and downbeat, funny
and sad, director Tverdovsky’s second feature shows enormous promise though
this is largely Pavlenkova’s movie for taking on a character most actresses
would shy away from. If there’s a
complaint to make, the proceedings are cut a bit short with an ambiguous finale
echoing the cold and dark coda of Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster. That said,
Tverdovsky’s surreal update of Fassbinder’s classic and loose critique of
contemporary Russian society is a truly unique tale of finding one’s wings in a
world eager to rip them apart. Natasha’s
journey is debatable in regards to whether or not she finds happiness, but at
least she finally knows who she is in the end.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki