Jedrzej Gorski | Eden / 2018

bitten

by Douglas Messerli

 

Jedrzej Gorski (screenwriter and director) Eden / 2018 [5 minutes]

 

A young man (Daniel Namiotko) is dressing and readying himself for a meeting with a friend (Daniel Skrzypczak) who he’s obviously excited about seeing. We gather he wants to look just right for this friend’s visit, clearly representing for him some sort of date, since he changes shirts a couple of times, and at one point pulls off his crucifix and stuffs it into his pants pocket. He attends to his hair carefully.

 

    But by the time he even reaches the door, it’s pouring rain, and his friend arrives, totally drenched. Instead of coming inside to dry off, he stands in the rain, pulling off his denim jacket and throwing it at his waiting “lover,” before facing down the storm and howling. The first boy joins him in the deluge, equally howling to the sky almost as a challenge.

    His guest pulls of his T-shirt, exposing his nude torso to the elements, and a moment later the first young man has torn off his carefully chosen shirt as well. The two cease their bellows, face off, and embrace in a series of deep kisses, hugging each other close to their bodies.

      But just as suddenly, the first young boy rushes back into the house without a word. When the other enters the cabin, he finds the boy sitting on the bed, holding and fondling his crucifix almost

as if it were a magic charm, a miniature life-raft that might save him from his obvious desires and delights.

     His friend enters and sits down with him, back-to-back, as if to be able to touch him with any confrontation. He finally turns toward his “lover,” takes up the other’s crucifix, and puts it around his friend’s neck, as if to assure him that in their love he does not have to give up his beliefs.

 

    At least that is how I read this sad story of a boy torn between his religious upbringing and the homosexual feelings he so obviously feels pulling him toward a great joy and sense of empowerment.

      The movie ends at that moment, with the torn boy staring at his friend sitting at the other end of the bed. Whether or not they will engage in the sexual pleasure that is obviously awaiting his decision, is never answered—although given the film’s title we can only imagine that this Adam will also eventually bite.

 

Los Angeles, April 9, 2024

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (April 2024).