Erupcja

While on vacation in Poland, Bethany (Charli xcx) breaks away from a romantic itinerary planned by her doting boyfriend, Rob (Will Madden), fearing that a marriage proposal is imminent. Reuniting instead with an old friend, Nel (Lena Góra), the two women rekindle a uniquely combustible chemistry over the course of a few days in a chaste but burning tryst predicated on sapphic synchronicity and a mutual penchant for poetry.

However, Bethany’s impulsive behaviour is a star-crossed sonnet that is all too familiar for Nel, and as a lovelorn Rob wanders Warsaw in search of answers, the trio find themselves parsing the difference between destiny and serendipity.

Delicately photographed by Pete Ohs, who also wrote, directed, edited and produced this idiosyncratic postcard romance, Erupcja — the Polish word for “eruption” — was born out of the filmmaker’s unique creative process. First finding inspiration in a location, Ohs then workshops characters with his cast (which further includes Jeremy O. Harris and Agata Trzebuchowska), before commencing production with only half the film outlined. While shooting, he writes with his actors as they and an intimate crew of multi-hyphenates (Michał Wieckowski, Jan Lubaczewski, Agata Dziurgot, and Zofia Chlebowska) live the story one scene at a time.

It’s a practice of pure creativity that instills an infectious charm to this film’s unfettered trajectory; one that is judiciously woven with colourful intervals of volcanic eruptions that reflect the repressed desires of its players, of which Góra and Charli xcx (also at the Festival in Sacrifice) are particularly magnetic.

Further shaded by a Polish narrator’s dry observations of the characters’ personal histories and inner lives, Erupcja is another sly delight from Ohs, a true-blue troubadour of contemporary independent cinema.

PETER KUPLOWSKY