When Senegalese-American songwriter Akon released his smash-hit single “Lonely” in 2005, it topped charts all over the world, just like the original inspiration “Mr. Lonely” by Bobby Vinton more than forty years earlier in 1964. Both songs share common lyrics that underscore the ever-relevant need for human connection and companionship. Our visceral emotional reaction to loneliness is our connection to our primal need to be loved. Art, particularly cinema, has thrived on this need to seek a sense of belonging, intimacy, and emotional support. Perhaps that’s the reason that some of the best films ever made have explored human intimacy, either depicting those we admire for having conquered loneliness or those that remind us of the moments we felt, or still feel, a yearning for connection. More often than not, these films take us on journeys alongside their characters, to fight for this precious longing or to reminisce on its loss. On Body and Soul, a Hungarian Oscar-nominated 2017 film directed by Ildikó Enyedi, is a strange and beautiful exploration of romance between two lonely souls in the most unlikely of settings.
‘On Body and Soul’s Romance Occurs in Duality
The title of the film suggests the meaning of the movie’s romance, which takes place in the duality of the physical (body) and the spiritual (soul) states. The movie is set in two contrasting worlds; an abattoir and a fantastical snowy forest appearing in simultaneous dreams between two shy co-workers who long for each other. Endre (Géza Morcsányi), a reserved and taciturn, irritable manager of a cattle slaughterhouse, experiences recurring dreams of being a deer in a pair that are infatuated with each other in a snowy forest. Unbeknownst to either of them, a shy Maria (Alexandra Borbély), the new employee in charge of quality assurance, also experiences the same dream. Maria detests social situations as they make her anxious, and Endre’s attempt to befriend her is instantly rebuffed. Maria’s mannerisms, akin to The Good Doctor‘s Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), seemingly place her on the Autism spectrum. She is uneasy with social interactions — particularly touch, obsessed about cleanliness, and meticulously sets a much higher performance standard at the workplace, while exhibiting a photographic memory. These attributes put her at odds with her colleagues. On the other hand, Endre has a physical disability, spends most of his time in the solitude of his office, and has only one friend, the HR supervisor Jenö (Zoltán Schneider).
In their solitary life journeys, they desire each other from afar. It takes the disappearance of a cattle aphrodisiac for Endre and Maria to learn about their shared bizarre dreams when a police psychiatrist (Réka Tenki) assigned to investigate the mental status of the employees asks them about their dreams. What ensues after this discovery is a cat-and-mouse tango between two lovebirds, happening both in the physical and ethereal realms.
The duality in On Body and Soul is not just a thematic device, it is also an important element in the film’s plot as it explores love, connection, and vulnerability. We can see ourselves in Endre and Maria. In the brutal slaughterhouse workplace, they face a myriad of challenges that crush their hopes for a romantic connection. Endre, a middle-aged man, approaches their romance with extreme caution, often defensively withdrawing to the cocoon of his office whenever he gets overwhelmed. His advanced age compared to Maria has taught him vital lessons about survival, which include protecting his heart. This is a risk for him.
On the contrary, Maria, with her youthfulness, represents the innocence of a woman who hasn’t experienced much in romantic relationships. She, too, is taking a risk as she is uncertain how this new adventure will turn out. Like Endre, she develops her own inadvertent defenses. We can relate to this unfolding and how we often apply defenses in our lives to mask our vulnerabilities. However, in their dreams as deer — a symbol of pure love manifested in grace, gentleness, and innocence — they let go of their defenses, seek out each other, and freely explore their romance. It reflects our worldly escapism where our fears rarely have a place. In those moments, we can see ourselves with that crush we are afraid to say hello to, or conquering obstacles we are afraid to face in real life. As a plot element, their congruent shared dreams help the two to bridge the gap between them in the physical world as well. Evocative of Yorgos Lanthimos‘ eccentricism, such as in The Lobster where characters turn into animals if they fail to find love, On Body and Soul offers a similar exploration of loneliness and subtle humor with a much quieter treatment.
Eccentric Love Blossoms In an Expected Place in ‘On Body and Soul’
The opening scenes of On Body and Soul in the slaughterhouse where the commercial reality of how food eventually gets to our table can be initially shocking to viewers. Eventually, one gets past the graphic images of red animal carcases as Ildikó Enyedi masterfully refocuses our attention to her main story: that of the outlandish romance between Endre and Maria. The slaughterhouse becomes a metaphor for the emotional confinement of their experience. With its cold and unforgiving environment for the animals, it mirrors their internal struggles. There, they feel isolated, even when they are surrounded by co-workers, they are absorbed in the routine, and face the danger of emotional numbness. Endre has a self-imposed limitation exacerbated by his physical disability, which has led to his quiet resignation. His emotional state is akin to the trapped cattle awaiting their fate in the surrounding abattoir. Maria’s obsessive-compulsive tendencies also inadvertently create a cage in her life that prevents her from connecting with others. Yet, slowly by slowly, however harsh their environment is, they rise above these realities and make the decision to give love a chance. They fumble along the way, but it is their eccentric commitment in this very setting that makes us root for them to succeed.
While the slaughterhouse represents confinement, the shared ethereal dreamy world in On Body and Soul symbolizes a safe haven where true connection flourishes. In the dreams where they appear as deer, they are unshackled from their burden of vulnerabilities and social awkwardness. There’s no fear of judgment or rejection. This dream world is their ideal state of being, in which the soul is unencumbered by the body’s limitations. On Enyedi’s canvass, love is painted as fateful, where Endre and Maria are already soulmates long before they match in their physical space. With its surreal appeal, On Body and Soul is a picture in which love is drawn in the duality of the most unexpected places.
‘On Body and Soul’ Offers Valuable Lessons About Human Connection
In addition to the unusual settings the film is premised on, the very essence of two opposites — Endre with his pride that makes him hesitant to compromise and Maria with her rigid routines and difficulty dealing with social norms — creates a complex dynamic that highlights the possibilities of human connection even when the odds suggest otherwise. Their individual and emotional barriers become secondary to a genuine connection between them that fills the void left by loneliness. Their shared vulnerability in the dream world slowly breaks the wall between them, and they are forced to confront their internal fears, which results in a deeper physical connection. Maria, for instance, begins testing the limits of her boundaries. She steps out of her cage to soak in experiences she had never tried before. Endre also learns that it’s only by accepting Maria for who she is that he can attain the elusive primal need of genuine human connection. On Body and Soul argues that embracing our differences, rather than erasing them, is how we can find true love. Our uniqueness is not a barrier but an opportunity to harness how we can complement each other.
Augmented by Ildikó Enyedi’s masterful direction that sacrifices her auteur ambitions while prioritizing simplicity and the controlled performances by Alexandra Borbély and Géza Morcsányi, On Body and Soul immerses you in Endre and Maria’s love story. On Body and Soul is a thought-provoking near-silent film, where the occasional evocative music, like Laura Marling‘s nostalgic “What He Wrote”, intensifies the longing either to hold onto the one you cherish or, like Akon’s “Lonely,” to find a bittersweet solace in the embrace of solitude.
On Body and Soul is currently available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
WATCH ON NETFLIX
Source link
