EO

Taking as its inspiration Robert Bressons’s Au Hasard Balthazar (1966), though it is by no means a simple retelling, the latest film from Jerzy Skolimowski follows the trials and tribulations of a donkey moving from owner to owner, subject to the whims and vagaries of human behaviour, all of which the beast endures with a dignified stoicism.

Separated by animal rights activists from beloved owner and circus performer Kasandra (Sandra Drzymalska), the beast wanders in search of her, experiencing treatment kind and cruel in the journey’s course. Under the artful direction of Skolimowski, one of the titans of Polish cinema, the donkey’s passage offers space for commentary and reflection on a range of social and environmental issues. Brave and unusual, with an unexpected appearance from an actress very well known to IFI audiences, Eo is a distinctive and thought-provoking film.

DIR: Jerzy Skolimowski, 88 mins, Poland-Italy, 2022