MOONLIGHTING
UK, 1982, 97 minutes, Colour.
Jeremy Irons, Eugene Lipinski.
Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski.
Moonlighting was produced soon after military upheaval in Poland and the emergence of the Solidarity movement. It was written and directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, a Polish director who was trained, like many others including Polanski, at the Lodz Film Academy. However, a critic of the Communist Party, he spent most of his time outside the country. He has been able to make films over a period of forty-plus years, though spasmodically, not having directed a film between 1991 and 2006. his films in Poland include Barrier (1966), but he was better known for his work in England including Deep End, King, Queen, Knave, The Shout in England, The Light Ship (1986) in the United States. He also appeared as an actor in quite a range of films including Deep End, White Knights, Big Shots, Mars Attacks and Before Night Falls.
The film is tightly written (and won the screenplay award at Cannes in 1982). The focus is on a group of Polish workers in London illegally to do work for their boss. Jeremy Irons as Nowack, is the only one who can speak English. He has control over the men, manages their lives. Some have seen him as a symbol of the Polish government, more than a touch paranoid, deceiving the people who worked for them, trying to maintain control. It is a very fine performance early in Jeremy Irons’ screen career which had begun with The French Lieutenant’s Woman and his television appearances in Brideshead Revisited.
The film is interesting in the light of changes in Poland during the 1980s, especially with the emergence of the Solidarity movement – leading, ultimately, to the overthrow of the Soviet empire.
1.The quality of the film, production qualities, acclaim and awards?
2.The impact of the film, universally? For Polish audiences watching it in the 1980s? In retrospect? For a British audience? The different levels on which the film worked, narrative, symbolic, message, political critique?
3.The London settings, Heathrow, the taxis, houses and landlords, issues of legal papers, neighbours, supermarkets, shops and streets? Christmas and New Year atmosphere? The feel of London? Audiences identifying with the situation and characters?
4.The performances, Jeremy Irons? Many of the other workers being Polish workers living in London (legally)? Skolimowski and his films, directing, writing? The musical score and its mood?
5.Britain in 1981, the Thatcher era? Ordinary life, material things being plentiful? Deals, a sense of freedom? People with money? Neighbours, petty aspects, surveillance? Communication and freedom?
6.The contrast with Poland, its place in the eastern bloc, lifestyles and poverty in Poland, lack of freedoms? The socialist ethos and controls? Workers being transported from one culture to another? Solidarity emerging and it significance?
7.The various levels on which the film worked: a story about work and relationships, a story about migrants and paranoia, shoplifting as a symbol? The Solidarity movement? As embodied by these workers? The influence of Russia and its communism on Poland and its ethos?
8.The Polish analogy, the job, Nowack in charge? His limits and talents? The work in itself? Nowack keeping control, his rules, the men shut in? The money benefits, the money running short? Phone calls, British television? The supermarket, Nowack trying to get past the checkouts? His not giving the men information about what was happening in Poland, pretences, changing watches? His accounting for the absent boss? His own personal concern about his wife, that the boss was having an affair with his wife? Enmity and rebellion, but the Christmas embrace? Collapse? The boss winning and the men angry?
9.Migrant workers, their lifestyle, mode of entry into England, Heathrow? Rules and language? Illegal presence? What the difficulties could mean, the danger of making mistakes? The landlord and his attitude? Garbage? Way of relating, tensions, loneliness and paranoia, a spirit of defiance?
10.The work itself, the situation, the collage of the work itself, making progress, mistakes, the rubbish? Their professionalism and success?
11.How the British were viewed? Heathrow, the landlord and his welcome, curiosity, the garbage, attitude towards communists? The supermarket friendliness, people watching? The Wrangler girls, the neighbour, the paper boy, the shop trade, the vagrant, Aquascutum? A view of the British, in detail? Cats and dogs!
12.The shoplifting, the woman, the others, supervision and technique, the girl and the comments, the need for shoplifting, learning, planning, the detail, emotional? Nowack and his trying to get the turkey out? Clothes, caught?
13.The Polish characters, the hostess, the boss and Tina Turner, the phones, television, the notices, letters?
14.Nowack and his voice-over, permeating the film, illustrating his character, his attitudes? Giving information, his tone, the feel? His self-image, the translation, his dilemmas? His dealing with different characters, the plans, telling the men or not about what was happening? In himself, his talents, arrival, schoolmaster, the answers, the timetable at work, his expertise, water and the electric shock? Shopping, accounts and plans, phone calls? Anna and her needs, for example the television? Wrangler, the neighbour? The shops, the bike, the girl, the news and concealment, growing concern? The church, Christmas and the tree, locking the men in? The Solidarity movement, the influence on Nowack? The details of the bath, sleeping and waking, eating? The church and confession? The men rebelling, the lockout? The spree, the ending? The achievement?
15.The three workmen, their characters and appearance, different, skills, language and lack of it, following orders? Eating, working, the television, bath, the electric shock, church, phone calls? Simple men, tricked? The ending?
16.The film’s attention to detail, the streets of London, the shops, the black man and the phone, the Chinese, the shops and music? The naturalistic treatment? The symbolic treatment?
17.Religion, Catholicism, belief, confession?
18.The film as a character study, a social observation study? A parable about government – with reference to Poland and the 1980s?
