Polish Migrants in European Film 1918–2017 (Palgrave European Film and Media Studies)

This study explores the representation of international migration on screen and how it has gained prominence and salience in European filmmaking over the past 100 years. Using Polish migration as a key example due to its long-standing cultural resonance across the continent, this book moves beyond a director-oriented approach and beyond the dominant focus on postcolonial migrant cinemas. It succeeds in being both transnational and longitudinal by including a diverse corpus of more than 150 films from some twenty different countries, of which Roman Polański’s __The Tenant__, Jean-Luc Godard’s __Passion__ and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s __Trois couleurs: Blanc__ are the best-known examples. Engaging with contemporary debates on modernisation and Europeanisation, the author proposes the notion of “close Otherness” to delineate the liminal position of fictional characters with a Polish background. __Polish Migrants in European Film 1918-2017__ takes the reader through a wide range of genres, from interwar musicals to Cold War defection films; from communist-era exile right up to the contemporary moment. It is suitable for scholars interested in European or Slavic studies, as well as anyone who is interested in topics such as identity construction, ethnic representation, East-West cultural exchanges and transnationalism. Acknowledgements 6 Contents 9 List of Figures 13 Chapter 1 Introduction: Poles of Attraction 15 Objectives and Scope of the Research 18 Corpus and Methodology 22 Presentation of the Book 25 References 29 Chapter 2 From Polish Romanticism to Poland’s Europeanisation: The Cultural Meanings and the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Migration in the Modern Age 32 Polish Migrations and Their Cultural Resonance 34 Migration, Modern Nostalgia and “Ethnic Kitschification” 38 Modernisation, Europeanisation and Polish “Close Otherness” 40 References 46 Chapter 3 Polish Entertainers and Entertaining Polishness: Staging Expatriates in Interwar Cinema (1918–1939) 50 International Migration and Early Cinema 52 Artists and Entertainers on the Move: Negri, Kiepura, Popesco 55 The “Russian Fashion” (Inside and Outside the Hexagon) 57 Pola Negri as Mania Walkowska, the Cigarette Worker 58 Jan Kiepura: From Commoner to Entertaining Star 60 Pola Negri’s German Comeback: Vera Kowalska as the Suitcase Woman in Mazurka (1935) 62 Elvire Popesco as the Eccentric, Seductive and Romantic “Cousin from Warsaw” 63 Expatriate Polishness as Entertainment Factor: Popesco and Sacha Guitry 68 Foreigners (Poles) on Screen and the Double Lack of “Authentic Immediacy” 71 The French Exception Revisited: “The Polish Labourer’s Wife” and Jean Renoir’s Toni (1935) 72 References 78 Chapter 4 From Expatriation Through Defection to Immigration: Polish Characters in Wartime and Cold War Film (1940–1980) 81 Updating (and Closing) the Interwar Paradigm: Kiepura, Renoir, Fedora (Negri) 83 War Heroes and Traitors: Polish Accents and Undertones in the British Cinematic War 87 The European Theatre Through a British(-Swiss) Lens: Displaced Persons and the Future of the Continent 90 Testing Polish-British Loyalty and Heroism: Cold War Defectors and Secret Agents 94 Polish Bravery Revisited: Outsider Solidarity in Tiger Bay (1959) 98 Between Neorealism, Romanticism and Geopolitics: The Postwar Italian Lens 103 The Swindlers (1959): Looking (in Vain) for the Polish Gastarbeiter 109 Designing (and Contesting) Modern Life: Old and New Immigrants in the Age of (West) European Modernisation 110 The 1970s Transition: Immigrant Pathologies (and the Quest for the Feminine) 116 References 126 Chapter 5 Screening (Non-)Solidarity, Now and Before: Polish Immigrants in Late Cold War Film (1980–1989) 129 The Andrzej Wajda Effect and the Multiple Faces of Solidarity 131 Screening the Cross-Border Mobility of Polish Men 134 Entangled Contexts of Reception: The Second Cold War and Post-recession Economics 135 Allegories of Labour, Neoliberalism and the Nation: Jerzy Skolimowski’s (Polish) House in London 137 Polish émigré Directors and Their Artistic Failures 141 Blue-Collar Refugees on the Brink of Homicidal Insanity 145 French-Polish Paper Marriages (and Their Dramatic Ending) 151 Behind a “Glass Curtain”: Problematising Solidarity-Era Emigration 156 The Late 1980s: Blending the Topical and the Historical 158 References 168 Chapter 6 Building Capitalism With(out) a Human Face: Polish Migrants in Post-Communist Film (1990–2004) 171 Leaving the “Paris Pavement”: From Exile to Labour Migration 173 Zbigniew Zamachowski Comes Back (with a Vengeance) 178 Introducing the Geopolitical Parameters of Integration and Reconstruction: Houses, Windows and Scaffolds 180 Modernisation Losers, the Homo Sovieticus and Neoliberal Entrepreneurs 183 Questioning (and Reinstalling) Domesticity: Degrees of Nostalgic Restoration 187 The German Case: Divided and Dysfunctional Families in the Aftermath of Unification 192 The Austrian Twist: Capitalism Without a Human Face 196 Windscreens and (Candid) Cameras: The Voyeuristic Italian Gaze 200 Old and New Polish Migrations: Solidarity in the Age of Neoliberalisation and Globalisation 206 References 212 Chapter 7 Modernisation Through Europeanisation? Polish “Free Movers” in Post-enlargement Film (2005–2017) 216 The Polish Film Institute (2005–) and the Rise of Co-productions with Polish Input 217 Conquering the British Isles (Post-enlargement, Pre-Brexit) 220 (Not) Climbing up the Ladder: Poland, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine 226 Becoming Unmarked (and Unaccented)? White-Collar Poles in the New Europe 229 Continuing the Post-1989 Paradigm: Diagnosis and (Restorative) Potential 234 Queering Polish Migration: Non-fixed Identities and “Residual” Otherness 239 Restoring the Moral Balance: Parallel Stories, Parallel Experiences 243 Polish “Parent” Actors, Hyphenated Filmmakers and Intergenerational Bonding 247 From Polanski to Pawlikowski: Autobiographical Inscription, Polish Contexts and White Otherness 254 References 262 Chapter 8 Conclusion: The Great Emigration(s) Revisited 266 References 274 Filmography (1918–2017) 276 Index 284 This study explores the representation of international migration on screen and how it has gained prominence and salience in European filmmaking over the past 100 years. Using Polish migration as a key example due to its long-standing cultural resonance across the continent, this book moves beyond a director-oriented approach and beyond the dominant focus on postcolonial migrant cinemas. It succeeds in being both transnational and longitudinal by including a diverse corpus of more than 150 films from some twenty different countries, of which Roman Polaânski's The Tenant, Jean-Luc Godard's Passion and Krzysztof Kieâslowski's Trois couleurs: Blanc are the best-known examples. Engaging with contemporary debates on modernisation and Europeanisation, the author proposes the notion of "close Otherness" to delineate the liminal position of fictional characters with a Polish background. Polish Migrants in European Film 1918-2017 takes the reader through a wide range of genres, from interwar musicals to Cold War defection films; from communist-era exile right up to the contemporary moment. It is suitable for scholars interested in European or Slavic studies, as well as anyone who is interested in topics such as identity construction, ethnic representation, East-West cultural exchanges and transnationalism Front Matter ....Pages i-xiv Introduction: Poles of Attraction (Kris Van Heuckelom)....Pages 1-17 From Polish Romanticism to Poland’s Europeanisation: The Cultural Meanings and the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Migration in the Modern Age (Kris Van Heuckelom)....Pages 19-36 Polish Entertainers and Entertaining Polishness: Staging Expatriates in Interwar Cinema (1918–1939) (Kris Van Heuckelom)....Pages 37-67 From Expatriation Through Defection to Immigration: Polish Characters in Wartime and Cold War Film (1940–1980) (Kris Van Heuckelom)....Pages 69-116 Screening (Non-)Solidarity, Now and Before: Polish Immigrants in Late Cold War Film (1980–1989) (Kris Van Heuckelom)....Pages 117-158 Building Capitalism With(out) a Human Face: Polish Migrants in Post-Communist Film (1990–2004) (Kris Van Heuckelom)....Pages 159-203 Modernisation Through Europeanisation? Polish “Free Movers” in Post-enlargement Film (2005–2017) (Kris Van Heuckelom)....Pages 205-254 Conclusion: The Great Emigration(s) Revisited (Kris Van Heuckelom)....Pages 255-264 Back Matter ....Pages 265-283