''Glass Lips'' (Szklane Usta) is a feature film with almost no words, directed by

Lech Majewski Lech Majewski (, ‘Ma-yev-ski’) (born 30 August 1953) is a Polish-American poet, filmmaker, media artist, writer, and theater director. A member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Majewski is k ...

. The film began life as an installation of interrelated short films, entitled ''Blood of a Poet'' (alluding to

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

’s surreal film ''

The Blood of a Poet ''The Blood of a Poet'' (, ) is a 1932 avant-garde film directed by Jean Cocteau, financed by Charles de Noailles and starring Enrique Riveros, a Chilean actor who had a successful career in European films. Photographer Lee Miller made her o ...

''). The installation had its world premiere at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on May 3, 2006, curated by Laurence Kardish. Its Polish debut was at the Atlas Sztuki Gallery in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

from 2006-05-19 to 2006-06-18 (Polish-language name “Krew poety”)., The installation also was exhibited at the

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

Opera House from 2006-07-20 to 2006-07-30 during the

Era New Horizons Film Festival New Horizons Film Festival ( pl: Nowe Horyzonty) is an international film festival held annually in July in Wrocław, Poland. It has been organised since 2001. It is one of the biggest and most popular film festivals in Poland. Since 2008 it is ...

; and, in the same year, in Gallery 2Πr,

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

, and National Museum,

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

. It was described there as: :

a video art screened on eight walls, the remaining works will be shown in loops on 24 screens. Entering this labyrinth, every viewer walks from one stage to another and builds his or her private story out of ready elements.

''Blood of a Poet'' was further exhibited as a video installation from 2007-02-08 to 2007-02-18 in Berlin, during

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

. There it was described as “a circuit of 33 short films and a series of interrelated photographic works”. On June 6, 2007, Blood of a Poet installation became a part of the 52nd

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. For almost six month, until November 21, it was shown in two locations: as the non-stop outside projection on Campo San Pantalon, and on 19 screens inside the Teatro Junghans on

Giudecca Giudecca (; ) is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, in northern Italy. It is part of the ''sestiere'' of Dorsoduro and is a locality of the ''comune'' of Venice. Geography Giudecca lies immediately south of the central islands of Venice, from wh ...

. The short films of the video installation ''Blood of a Poet'' were assembled into a single feature film entitled ''Glass Lips'', premiering in that form in February 2007 in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

., In Poland the film in its feature-length format is known as ''Szklane usta'' and premieres on 2007-03-23., ''Glass Lips'' played also in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

International Film Series in March/April 2007, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and

Locarno Film Festival The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...

in August 2007;

The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatoria ...

showed it in September 2007; the

UCLA Film Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a nonprofit exhibition venue, the archive ...

in October, and in November it was presented by SIFF

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

;

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum (PAM) is an art museum in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The Portland Art Museum has 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2), with more than 112,000 square feet (10,400 m2) of gallery space. The museum’s permanent c ...

; Cleveland’s Wexner Arts Center; and

Berkeley Art Museum The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and film archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director ...

/ Pacific Film Archive. On November 7, 2007, Glass Lips opened in

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

critic, Jeannette Catsoulis, wrote: “

creates an aesthetic of dysfunction that’s as beautiful as it is disturbing. After a while the film’s expressiveness becomes so hypnotic that it’s difficult not to make your own connections.”

Joe Leydon Joseph Patrick Michael Leydon (born August 22, 1952) is an American film critic and historian. A critic and correspondent for '' Variety'' since 1990, he is the author of ''Joe Leydon's Guide to Essential Movies You Must See'' (Michael Wiese Pro ...

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

wrote: “Glass Lips exerts a chilly fascination from minute to minute… Experimental pic by noted Polish-born artist-filmmaker is a harshly beautiful, dialogue-free meditation on the indelible influence of childhood trauma.”

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

film critic, V. A. Musetto, gave the film three and a half stars (out of four) and wrote: “The hypnotic, painterly images of Glass Lips combine with haunting music in one of the most unusual, beautiful films of the year.” The film stars Patryk Czajka as Sebastian, Joanna Litwin as Sebastian’s mother, and Grzegorz Przybył as Sebastian’s father. As the film begins, Sebastian is in a

mental asylum The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an institution where people with mental illness were confined. It was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from and eventually replace ...

; he recalls events from his life beginning with his birth. Many of the sequences of the film are surrealistic. None of the actors speak any words, but the electronic voice of an answering machine gives the date at one point, and there is a voice-over song that gets repeated. The film includes some shocking images, such as a woman who gives birth to a large bloody rock, and a man eating dog food. In addition to directing, Majewski is credited as the writer, producer, and cinematographer.

Cast

* Patryk Czajka as Sebastian * Joanna Litwin as Mother * Grzegorz Przybył as Father * Ryszarda Celińska as Older Mother * Leonard Brzoza as Sebastian - teenage boy * Warner Widera as Sebastian - kid * Dorota Lis as Doris * Michalina Rutowska as Maid

Notes

External links

*
Official Polish website
*

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070116142309/http://akukusztuka.eu/majewski1.htm , date=2007-01-16
epoznan.pl
2007 films Films directed by Lech Majewski Polish drama films American drama films 2000s American films Opus Film films