lillian (w&d andreas horvath)

Andreas Horvath’s unorthodox road movie, wherein the protagonist is only seen in a car on one occasion, feels like an instant classic. A classic because it taps into that most elemental American narrative, the travelling hobo. We are on the road with Lillian, as she embarks on her Quixotic quest to cross the US from New York to Alaska. Lillian never talks. There’s no back story. We don’t know why this Russian woman takes this decision, what has driven her to these extremes. It’s the journey laid bare. In the process we are introduced to what might be called the real America. A land of thrift stores and local radio stations. Of laundrettes and security cameras. Also, tellingly, a land of little kindness. Only two people in the film makes an effort to help this wandering stray. A sheriff lends her his coat, a woman gives her some drinks. In part it could be said that this is due to Lilian’s refusal to interact, for reasons we never learn, but it also shows up a land with at least 70 million people who seem diametrically opposed to the notion of the good samaritan. Obviously there’s a scripted element to this: the filmmaker chooses what he wishes to show, but the loneliness of the long distance walker is never interrupted as she marches towards death. The film is replete with cinematic references. There’s the bus from Into The Wild, Grizzly Man’s black bear, Antonioni’s death valley and, perhaps, Lilian’s end echoes that of the wanderer in Kalatozov’s Unsent Letter, alone on an ice floe. Lilian has much in common with Kalatozov’s film. The growing tension that is generated through the mere act of survival. We root for Lillian, played with a blank-face brilliance by Patrycja Planik, and the worse things get the more we root for her. Her journey feels absurd, doomed, but that doesn’t matter. As long as she keeps going, there’s hope. The starkness of her journey is one that the film’s producer Ulrich Seidl, would be proud of, and his influence can be felt. However, this film belongs to Planik and Horvath (who not only directed but also photorgaphed, edited and composed the music). Once again, the cinematic act of defying the odds, striking out to create something that seems absurd, makes for an astonishing film, putting similar Hollywood fare (Into the Wild, The Revenant, etc) in the shade.