Director: Pete Ohs
This is a disarmingly short movie at 71 minutes but it’s a watchable little drama. Bethany (Charli xcx) arrives in Warsaw with boyfriend Ben (Will Madden) for a short break. On arrival he goes for a lie down, while she crosses town to see Nel (Lena Góra), with whom she had an intense friendship when they were teenagers. The story goes that there are always volcanic eruptions when they get together. While this is faintly suggestive of a lesbian relationship, in fact their queerness appears to be emotional rather than physical – something the movie captures well.
In a series of scenes during which Ben becomes increasingly desperate, Bethany effectively runs away from him and hangs out with Nel and her friends, including Claude (Jeremy O’Harris), an American artist living in Warsaw. From there it’s all too obvious how the drama is going to play out. However Will Madden gives a brilliant turn in the thankless, hapless role of the sincere but too-nice boyfriend who wanted to propose to Bethany in Paris and got talked into going to Warsaw instead.
Ironically it’s Bethany who comes across as the boring one, showing herself to be a rather vacuous and inconsiderate party girl. There isn’t much else in her character to get hold of. Despite this there’s a gruff male ‘reportage’ voiceover, which could have come straight out of the French nouvelle vague, and which tries to endow the drama with far more poignancy and significance than it actually manages to muster.
The film certainly has its plus points: the cast is strong and the scenes of Warsaw capture the look and feel of being there. The frenetic movement is also redolent of the short break vibe, though the stunted duration and the use of shaky hand-held camera throughout gives off the feel of a not-quite-finished student production. The story is absorbing and some of the narrative details are meted out with a good sense of timing. But overall the simple plot doesn’t go very far. If you’re looking for big twists or surprises, or a meaningful meditation on the human condition, this may not be the one for you.
Erupcja is in UK and Ireland cinemas on 5 June.
