The cinema of Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi often has been considered a microcosm of Poland itself. His protagonists are usually university-educated characters grappling with the societal challenges of a post-war country’s clash with communism. Considered one of the most important Polish auteurs of his generation, Zanussi has had a prolific film career which can be traced back to his 1969 debut feature The Structure of Crystal (Struktura krysztalu), a rich, psychological drama about friendship, career and the pursuit of happiness.
The protagonists of the film are two talented physicists – one of whom, Jan (Jan Myslowicz), has left the city for the countryside to become a meteorologist, while the other establishes a brilliant career in science. Early in the film, we notice that Jan is content in his surroundings. His weather observations provide no outlet for research, just observation, and he has acclimated to his sedentary life. These values are challenged when his academic professor friend Marek Kawecki (Adrzej Zarnecki) visits Jan’s countryside home and proposes his very different perspective on success, happiness, family, and life.
The first night of Kawecki’s visit, Jan and his wife, Anna (Barbara Wrzesinksa), welcome him over dinner. The following morning, the two friends go for a walk and catch up on old times. Jan tells Kawecki about the good experience that he had when he was a visiting professor at Harvard University. This early anecdote hints that Jan has not always lived in the isolation that he and his family currently experience and that two friends had taken different paths long ago.
“Like a Chekhov play. We’re only missing a samovar. Everybody’s having tea. Silence and nothing happens.”
”Actually, there is a lot happening in Chekhov’s plays.”
This dialogue between Jan and Kawecki encapsulates their opposing philosophies. Kawecki reminds Jan that he’s in the best years of his life, with a quarter already behind him, he must now do something. Both friends with shared backgrounds are bombarded by moral dilemmas regarding their life choices as adults.
Zanussi, who also studied physics, explores the meaning of a life well lived – the struggle between our inner vocation and the courage to live our own individual life. The film’s title, referring to the mineralogical arrangement of atoms in ordered patterns and symmetry, may represent Jan’s choice. Crystals, made of repetitive structures, mirror Jan’s existence in the regularity and controlled sedentary life. We first see his home physically isolated in the bitter, wintery cold, which frames the film using similar, if not the same, desolate landscape locations.
Bookending the film with the black and white landscapes offers two very different messages. Having understood Jan’s perspective, the same dreary and empty landscapes offer a sense of peace, happiness and fulfillment. The images set to music are no different than they were before, but they now are as vibrant as ever and offer a rich life for Jan and his family. While Kawecki has revealed that he is divorced and “not the marrying kind,” Jan shows no interest in returning to academia despite having financial problems and has achieved a sense of serenity in his path with his family.
“Has it ever occurred to you that “catching your breath” may be the right way to live?”
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Struktura Krysztalu (The Structure of Crystal
Director Krzysztof Zanussi
Writers Krzysztof Zanussi, Edward Zebrowski
Stars Barbara Wrzesinska, Jan Myslowicz, Andrezej Zarnecki
Running Time 1h 14m
Genres Drama