Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Magnus von Horn
Starring: Magdalena Kolesnik, Julian Swiezewski, Aleksandra Konieczna, Zbigniew
Zamachowski
It's become something of a cliché to suggest that the rich and famous might
be miserable underneath their external peppy facades. Is this a way for the
rest of us to feel a little better about our own lives or are the beautiful
people really sharing our struggles to find happiness? What does fame even
mean in this era of Instagram "influencers", who can amass millions of
followers and earn large sums just by wearing a sponsored bra in the right
suggestive shot?
Sylwia (a striking debut by Magdalena Koleśnik), the spandex clad
protagonist of Swedish writer/director Magnus von Horn's Polish set
drama Sweat, is one such influencer. She's amassed a following of 600,000 on what I
believe the kids call "the 'gram" and earns a comfy living visiting shopping
malls for meet and greet workout sessions with her adoring fans, and from
being photographed eating and wearing the product of certain brands.
But in this Network for the social media age, Sylwia is sad
as hell, and she's not sure if she can take it anymore. Dropping her bubbly
exterior for once, Sylwia uploads a teary video in which she confesses to
her loneliness and inability to find love. While many of her fans feel
inspired by her candidness, some sponsors are irked - they wish to be
associated with Sylwia's image, not her warts and all reality.
When Sylwia discovers she has a stalker, a middle-aged man who masturbates
in his car outside her apartment block, she begins to question how she's
really viewed. Do her "fans" really care about her or is she simply being
objectified, a living motivational poster for women and little more than
wank material for men?
Von Horn doesn't make his heroine all that easy to warm to. So skilled at
building an image is Sylwia that we're never sure of the level of her
sincerity. Is her teary confessional genuine and from the heart or simply a
rehearsed marketing ploy? Bumping into an old school friend at a shopping
mall, Sylwia is forced to listen to a tale of woe, and it's difficult to
read her reaction, to determine whether she's genuinely interested in this
woman's troubles or she simply knows how to appear as a caring person. At a
family gathering for her mother's birthday, Sylwia storms off in a huff when
the assembled family members fail to show a high enough level of interest in
her career.
Like his 2015 feature debut
The Here After
- in which a young man is released from prison and returned to the small
community where he committed his crime - Sweat becomes
concerned with the idea of rehabilitation and forgiveness. Understandably initially
dismissing her stalker as a pervert, a late incidence of violence makes
Sylwia reassess her view of the Darwinian world whose summit she's risen to.
Von Horn seems to suggest that social media has returned us to a less
civilised state, where alphas look down on the weak and pathetic. But as his
protagonist is ultimately forced to admit, "Weak and pathetic people are the
most beautiful of all." Whether she actually believes her own words isn't
entirely clear however, and as the film closes on an extended close-up of
Sylwia as she performs her trademark workout, we're left to wonder if her
experiences have taught her any human lessons or simply given her fuel for
her tailored online existence.
