Céline Roustan
Isolated in the middle of the woods, a mad scientist—rather, the modern sexier version of it, (aka a brilliant, reclusive inventor with a god-complex) lives in a stylish, Scandinavian-inspired, minimalist house with a woman. The pair, Victor and Eve, don’t have a so-called normal relationship, after all, Eve does not have emotions. Yup, she is not human, but the product of Victor’s creativity and genius. Still, she’s trying, and through her attempts to please Victor, the beginning of an identity all her own starts to cohere. Victor acts like he wants genuine connection, but when his creation begins to think and feel on her own, how will he take it? Director Piotr Dylewski takes us into a carefully created, not so distant, sci-fi world in Konstruktor, and through extremely precise direction and a meticulously designed environment, he depicts a drama as fascinating for its central relationship as it is for its sci-fi premise.
Inspired by the Frankenstein story and the theme of recurrent fights within a couple, Dylewski penned the screenplay of Konstruktor. Conflict in relationships is at the core of the story and drives the narrative. Initially, Dylewski wanted to deal with how (poorly) we tend to treat the people closest to us, and the sci-fi aspect materialized itself later in the writing process. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, Chimney Pot joined the project by offering its services for all the VFX. While the plot and its central themes are strong, we must say that we were bowled over by the polished visuals, as this is easily one of the prettiest shorts we’ve featured in recent times.
Before delving too much further, I can’t shy away from addressing the elephant in the room. The similarities with Alex Garland’s Ex-Machina are undeniable. The remoteness and design of Victor’s house sure resembles Oscar Isaac’s eccentric character’s. Both narratives deal with the creation of a female AI, the subtle misogyny of their egotistical male creators, and its consequences. However, the parallels only reside in the settings of the story, as the character psychology differs significantly and the narrative Dylewski penned goes a different way. Konstruktor does also have a memorable dance scene, nevertheless it serves a different purpose than Isaac’s epic disco moves.
Dylewski collaborated with an extremely talented crew to bring his vision to the screen. Production design, cinematography and performances are all striking. The house perfectly sets the tone. Very bright and futuristic with its technology-filled features, and bare in terms of minimal interior design, the set design is carefully constructed to be part of the narrative. The house echoes the detachment from reality and a lack of emotions. Aleksandra Hamkało incredibly portrays Eve and her evolution throughout the film as Victor alters her. Every single time the camera is on Eve doing something from ordinary to odd, her performance is riveting and convincing. The cinematography subtly captures the story, adding gravity to the more emotional moments and making emotionless moments appear sterile. Finally, the dance sequence is nothing below mesmerizing. As a defining moment for the character development of Eve, the steadicam allows us to immersively experience the pivotal scene rather than just watch passively, as Eve breaks her puppet strings in a truly captivating sequence.
Konstruktor is definitely one of the strongest student films the team has seen recently and can only foreshadow a bright future for Dylewski who already shows great technique and strong determination. He is already working on a feature. Wishing to dabble with different genres on his next projects, your guess is just as good as ours in predicting where he will take us next time.