DemonA demon is an outsider, a creature regarded as an intruder, one who does not belong. Demon is the story of Piotr (Itay Tiran), called "Python" by his colleagues, derisively called "Peter" by his future father-in-law, Zygmunt (Andrzej Grabowski). On the eve of Piotr's marriage to his lovely bride, Zaneta (Agnieszka Zulewska), he uncovers a human skeleton in the earth of their soon-to-be home in Poland, also where their reception is to take place. From then on, Piotr is stricken with increasingly dreadful hallucinations, culminating in his possession by a dybbuk, a Jewish spirit that clings to his soul. Yet as terrible as this is, Zygmunt is convinced the show of the wedding must go on.
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Piotr probably has Polish roots--he speaks Polish well enough for a second language, although English is presumably his native tongue. He is treated amiably enough on the surface, but is secretly viewed as a pariah by the majority of the guests in attendance at his own wedding. He tries to fit in with his new Polish family, but struggles when faced with a culture he doesn't understand, with customs and language which are literally foreign to him. He contends with the scorn of another friend of the family's, Ronaldo (Tomasz Zietek), who clearly resents Piotr for marrying the girl he pines for. His work friend, Jasny (Tomasz Schuchardt), is Zaneta's elder brother, who likely introduced the two young newlyweds. Jasny tries to help Piotr feel at ease among his family, although this solution usually comes at the end of a bottle, a go-to solution for dispelling tension for him and his father. So Piotr's nerves are shot from the start, not withstanding the eerie scene he witnesses while preparing to land from the boat, of a woman in the throes of some madness, screaming in the river. The question as to what ailment has been afflicted upon Piotr isn't clear for a good deal of Demon; at what point, specifically, was he possessed, if at all? His bizarre behavior could easily be attributed to anxiety at first, but it escalates into what is initially diagnosed by a guest and rather incompetent doctor (Adam Woronowicz)--one prone to disingenuous observations--as epilepsy. When Piotr begins to speak in foreign tongues, including German and Yiddish, a priest is called in to perform an exorcism. (And at the risk of increasing Zygmunt's embarrassment, done in secrecy, while plying more and more vodka on the wedding guests to keep them occupied.) Demon and its tense tone have been likened to the paranoia-drenched thrillers by fellow Polish filmmaker, Roman Polanski. The idea that a groom like Piotr would be suffering terrible anxiety is not regarded as any great oddity, although the hallucinations of a spectral young woman named Hana (Maria Debska) appear only to Piotr. Writer and director Marcin Wrona leaves a multitude of hooks dangling, such as whether there is actually a skeleton in the ground. Wrona wisely leaves these questions where they belong: poised in the air for us to speculate upon, never fully sure of what the truth is, left only with our own subjective interpretation of the events--as well as our own stoked paranoia--to guide us in this mystery.
There is a speech given at the reception by an old man named Symeon (Wlodzimierz Press), who looks about ready to put the guests to sleep with his long-winded recitation about how the old must give way to the young generation. This observation is a key point for the whole of Demon, since the film is ultimately about hauntings--including the haunting of the young by the old, and the haunting of Poland itself. When Piotr arrives in Poland, the place is shrouded in a mysterious fog, which later gives way to torrential rains as his wedding day comes. The moist and drenched landscape evokes the setting of a ghost story; even the house Piotr believes Zaneta wants them to live in is a decrepit one, with a leaky roof and unfriendly, shadowy halls. What little history we glean about Hana includes that she likely died around the time of World War II, a period when Poland was in a precarious position, just freeing itself from Nazi control, only to fall into the dominance of another evil empire. There is a sense that henceforth, Poland was suffering from its own possession--its occupation--like a gaping wound that has never healed right. A brief nod near the end of Demon also highlights similarities to another film about ghosts from the past clinging like a stain on the present: Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Both films deal with forces that call from beyond the span of time to draw men into the memories of that past like a siren song. Like many young newlyweds marrying into a big family with their own unfamiliar customs, there is the sense that Piotr is challenged to do right by them. However, people like Zygmunt expect the ceremony and reception to be emblematic of their lives together, that if it isn't perfect--planned right down to his timetable--that it isn't good enough...that Piotr isn't good enough. Zygmunt is controlling and dominating, and expects things to go his way, even when demonic possession tries to undermine his festivities. Piotr's possession is treated by his new Polish family not as an affliction, but more like bad manners, something Zygmunt sweats to conceal from the guests at great length, even hogtying Piotr in the wine cellar. The party gets raucous and wild, and eventually all the guests shamble about like they are also possessed. Indeed they are, as they have been imbibing "spirits" all night, and are, like Piotr, under the sway of forces they cannot control. Demon is a haunting, occasionally darkly funny, parable about the dangers of exhuming the past and letting it cling to you like a wet blanket, chilling you to the bone instead of keeping you warm as it should.
Recommended for: Fans of a psychological horror film, about the anxieties and tensions that come with marrying into a family with unfamiliar customs, compounded by the perceived presence of the supernatural spirits of the past.
There is a speech given at the reception by an old man named Symeon (Wlodzimierz Press), who looks about ready to put the guests to sleep with his long-winded recitation about how the old must give way to the young generation. This observation is a key point for the whole of Demon, since the film is ultimately about hauntings--including the haunting of the young by the old, and the haunting of Poland itself. When Piotr arrives in Poland, the place is shrouded in a mysterious fog, which later gives way to torrential rains as his wedding day comes. The moist and drenched landscape evokes the setting of a ghost story; even the house Piotr believes Zaneta wants them to live in is a decrepit one, with a leaky roof and unfriendly, shadowy halls. What little history we glean about Hana includes that she likely died around the time of World War II, a period when Poland was in a precarious position, just freeing itself from Nazi control, only to fall into the dominance of another evil empire. There is a sense that henceforth, Poland was suffering from its own possession--its occupation--like a gaping wound that has never healed right. A brief nod near the end of Demon also highlights similarities to another film about ghosts from the past clinging like a stain on the present: Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Both films deal with forces that call from beyond the span of time to draw men into the memories of that past like a siren song. Like many young newlyweds marrying into a big family with their own unfamiliar customs, there is the sense that Piotr is challenged to do right by them. However, people like Zygmunt expect the ceremony and reception to be emblematic of their lives together, that if it isn't perfect--planned right down to his timetable--that it isn't good enough...that Piotr isn't good enough. Zygmunt is controlling and dominating, and expects things to go his way, even when demonic possession tries to undermine his festivities. Piotr's possession is treated by his new Polish family not as an affliction, but more like bad manners, something Zygmunt sweats to conceal from the guests at great length, even hogtying Piotr in the wine cellar. The party gets raucous and wild, and eventually all the guests shamble about like they are also possessed. Indeed they are, as they have been imbibing "spirits" all night, and are, like Piotr, under the sway of forces they cannot control. Demon is a haunting, occasionally darkly funny, parable about the dangers of exhuming the past and letting it cling to you like a wet blanket, chilling you to the bone instead of keeping you warm as it should.
Recommended for: Fans of a psychological horror film, about the anxieties and tensions that come with marrying into a family with unfamiliar customs, compounded by the perceived presence of the supernatural spirits of the past.