Enyedi Ildiko's latest film, On Body and Soul (Testről és lélekről) finds love in the strangest of places: a slaughterhouse. Much of the first part of the film focuses on the slaughterhouse's daily activity, in all its bloody and gory detail. The act feels savage, but this act is practical - it's a means to produce food. Endre and Maria, two of the slaughterhouse's workers, form a bond after they realize they have been sharing the same dream of two deer in an icy forest. Endre is a partially disabled man with a distant demeanor; Maria is a socially awkward yet brilliant mind with an attention to detail and with tendencies both obsessive compulsive and neurodevelopmental in nature. They seem to build a deep emotional connection in their dream state, while struggling to build a similar connection in the waking world.
The Body-Soul dichotomy implied by the film's title is anything but subtle: there are images of brutality and empathy, the stark reality, absurdity and coldness of the real world and the pure, almost noble grace of the dream world. Ironically, it is in reality where absurd situations happen; take the slaughterhouse scenes for example, or the act of stealing sexual enhancers from cows, which catalyzes the film's narrative development. The film makes a case for a certain sense of spirituality and deep emotional connection that we have discarded and replaced with shallow connections and disposable relationships. The film asks us why it is so difficult to form a bond between people in a world like this, bound and constricted by shyness, social restrictions and decorum. These antipodes battle each other out, trying to find a balance of sorts between body and soul.
The film's treatment is gentle and deliberate. It starts off as a bit slow but builds up steadily as Endre and Maria begin to explore their true feelings and come to a realization about them. The last third of the film comes off as a little too melodramatic, but the ending, which can imply a number of different things, is interesting. It could be the final nail in the coffin, showing us the banality of bodily relationships. Or perhaps the film is making a case for symbiosis between body and soul, between idealism and reality, between that which is vulgar and sacred.
On Body and Soul is a fascinating, surreal romance with an arthouse sensibility. It demands patience and attention, but the results are pretty rewarding.
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