Marzenka

As leitmotif of Albert Meisl´s Marzenka, Marek hits the Ping-Pong ball against the face of the standing Ping-Pong table with a mechanical regularity, playing a game with and against himself. From the window of his childhood bedroom refuge, Marek observes the arrival of his Polish cousin. Marzenka has come here to study. The twenty-eight year old finds this out when he eavesdrops on the intruder’s conversation with his mother. They communicate bilingually, which Marek dismisses with a laconic declaration: “I´m Austrian!”

In addition to the succinct dialogue, the mutual observation and commenting is also virulent: the conscious listening or not listening constitutes a complex relationship structure, within which glances tossed back and forth gradually penetrate the characters´ carefully compiled protective armor. These interpersonal thresholds are also formally articulated by the framing through door and window frames.

The pounding narrative rhythm arises from the continuously progressing elliptical narration. When Marek and Marzenka run out of a restaurant without paying, the plot turns: going against his declaration, Marek falls back on the Polish language. The failure of his attempt to free himself from his roots is, at the same time, an unconscious confession. For precisely after this occurrence, the hitherto opponents come closer together. Previously unexposed character traits, as well as a shift in power relations, come to light: Marek now claims Marzenka as his own, and wants control. After all, it is only in the position of patriarch that he is able to break out of his inability and apathy.
Marzenka ends with a long shot. Mounted into it is the omnipresent rhythmic-monotone clatter of the Ping-Pong ball.
(Matthias K. Heschl)

Translation: Lisa Rosenblatt