Charlatan (2020)

Directed by: Agnieszka Holland | 118 minutes | drama, history | Actors: Ivan Trojan, Josef Trojan, Juraj Loj, Jaroslava Pokorná, Jirí Cerný, Miroslav Hanus, Ladislav Kolár, Martin Sitta, Jan Vlasák, Barbora Milotová, Milena Sajdkova, Magdaléna Borová, Otmar Brancuzský, Daniela Vorácková

‘Charlatan’ is about the life of the Czech alternative physician Jan Mikolasek (performed sublimely by father and son Trojan). It is somewhere in the fifties and throngs of people come from all over the world to have their pee checked at Mikolasek. After years of study with a local healer, Mikolasek can read all kinds of diseases on the basis of urine. He then gives them plant-based medicines and advice on how to overcome their illness or discomfort. Mikolasek, who invariably denies that he is a doctor, does this not only for the assholes, but also for bigwigs from home and abroad. This has done him no harm. From his spacious villa he offers help to anyone who wants it. However, once the communists come to power in the Czech Republic, they want to prosecute Mikolasek and his loyal associates, including his beloved Frantisek Palko (Juraj Loj), for treason against the state.

In the context of ‘Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema’ (Mark Cousins, 2021) a lance has to be made for the director of ‘Charlatan’, Agnieszka Holland. Although she has been active as a director in and outside Poland for five decades, her daring productions are sometimes overlooked. For example, go see the movie ‘In Darkness’ (2011), a chilling Holocaust story. Or her television work for quality series such as “The Wire” (2004-2008), “The Killing” (2011-2014) and “House of Cards” (2013-2018). Holland is actually at home in all markets, from television films to major drama productions. The big constant is that it’s always challenging ideas, that she treats her audience like adults, and it’s usually about interesting misfits in society. All this again applies to ‘Charlatan’.

‘Charlatan’ feels like a very intense, measured, and at times almost hermetic, film, in fact like the main character Mikolasek himself. He has been closed from the start and clearly a provocative person. Mikolasek feels different and sometimes behaves like an outsider. On top of that, he gets a war trauma. After being forced to pull the trigger in a summary execution as a soldier, Mikolasek makes a suicide attempt while on duty out of pangs of conscience. His young life is therefore no cat pee. Once back with his parents, Mikolasek tries to get back on his feet and the gardener’s son notices that he has a special gift for healing. Using the local ‘witch’, against his father’s wishes, Mikolasek learns more about his unique gift and how he can better serve people with it. Especially in the first half of ‘Charlatan’, the film leaves open the question whether Mikolasek actually helps people or simply sells good stories.

‘Charlatan’ is a top-notch production on all fronts, sharing its high-end aesthetic qualities with mid-sized Hollywood productions, such as ‘The Imitation Game’ (Morten Tyldum, 2014) and ‘The Darkest Hour’ (Joe Wright, 2017). In addition, the film employs a classic flashback structure and showcases both the main character’s strengths and flaws. The film sees that these two facets of the human Mikolasek are deeply connected. In addition, director Holland has a strong eye for historical detail. For example, Germany is always in the background in the Czech Republic, just listen to the radio playing in the movie or the songs the locals sing. The number of shots with frames and bars in ‘Charlatan’ is also remarkable. This fits well with the idea of ​​dictatorial regimes – everyone is trapped in this kind of cinematic composition, including the people who interrogate and imprison fellow citizens. In addition, the music on the soundtrack is quite sparse, which makes it quite effective and ominous when the moment does come.

Slowly, however, ‘Charlatan’ lets go of its ambiguity and clearly sides with Mikolasek, yet another unjustly tried and detested individual by an almighty state. This also removes the critical view that Mikolasek may be a charlatan and mainly lives on the credulity of high and low in Czech society. Never mind that at the height of his fame, Mikolasek also flirted with the Nazi regime. Nevertheless, the character itself remains a barrel full of contradictions. Although an open secret, Mikolasek is gay but also deeply religious. He also wants to heal everyone, but he also has violent and self-destructive excesses. As a cat lover it is therefore better to stay away from the film and you would almost think that ‘The Shining’ (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) served as an example.

Ultimately, both “Charlatan” and Mikolasek harbor a tremendous rage against what they see as injustice, almost to the point of death. The tragedy for the doomed Mikolasek, of course, is that the people he treated and healed are also the ones who kill him. Perhaps that’s why the film is not so much interested in whether Mikolasek was cheating, but much more in the high betrayal of freedom and love in this political regime. This story is also, not so secretly, a love story and, unlike for example ‘The Ascent’ (Larisa Shepitko), offers very little insight into martyrdom.