Not a Love Song

An almost deserted village on the Polish border, where the future looks so miserable that ‘even the animals started to commit suicide’. At least, that’s what Bruno says, the appealing yet unhappy hero of this story. Bruno happens upon the house of Karl and Luise, an enterprising couple that plans to set up a health resort, and becomes the object of both Luise and Karl’s attention. Bruno is however not interested in Karl’s attempts to convert him to believe in free enterprise and also tries to shake off Luise’s charming attempts at seduction. The three characters feel imprisoned in the Beckett-like mood of the village where nothing works: not the economy, not love and not the car that is needed to escape from the village. What remains is a nostalgic memory of desire, but not the desire itself.Not a Love Song, the feature début and graduation film (Berlin Film Academy) by Jan Ralske, is characterised by a professionalism that leaves the average graduation film far behind. The film looks to be structured as a series of short tableaux and has a timeless mood. The barren lives of the three protagonists are set out with a dry and light comic touch. Bruno, Karl and Luise look as if they have escaped from a Jarmusch film: they are a little crazy, don’t take much notice of the world and express a combination of worldly wisdom and desolation.