322

Hanák’s debut feature, 322, was made at the end of the thaw, in the aftermath of the Prague Spring, when the atmosphere in Czechoslovakia was once again beginning to darken. There is none here of the swaggering energy or burst of colour associated with Věra Chytilová, Jiří Menzel or Juraj Jakubisko. Instead, Hanák offers a penetrating psychological study of the individual and of human relationships, framed in stark black-and-white compositions. The protagonist, the cook Jozef Lauko (Václav Lohniský), is wrongly diagnosed in hospital. Divided into distinct chapters, the film follows his response to illness while closely observing shifts in his surroundings and in his relationship to the spaces he inhabits. Lucyna Winnicka appears as Marta, his wife. In a strikingly literary mode, 322 captures not only Jozef’s inner condition but also that of a large part of society, making deft use of medical metaphors. At the same time, it is rich in formal invention and imaginative editing – a natural continuation of the Czechoslovak New Wave tradition.

Michał Konarski

Dušan Hanák (b. 1938) – Slovak director and screenwriter, one of the key figures of the Czechoslovak New Wave. His films are marked by a perceptive, unsentimental view of his characters and an intimate, often poetic style. Working under the constraints of censorship, he nevertheless managed to maintain a strong artistic independence. Among other honors, he received the Silver Bear for I Love, You Love (1989).

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