If
“The Boy” is correct, there could be infinite alternate universes, but puberty
is probably still miserable for him in each and every one of them.
Unfortunately, he will not have time to grow out of it, because the end of the
world is nigh. To top it off, he also has mother issues in Kuba Czekaj’s The Erlprince (trailer here), which screens
during this year’s Panorama Europe, at MoMI.
The
opening sequence deliberates echoes Goethe’s The Erlking, with key differences. The Boy’s oppressively controlling
mother is driving through the night to their new digs. Physically he is fine,
but emotionally he is far from hale and hearty. The rest of the world isn’t
doing very well either. As part of his research into parallel dimensions, the physics
prodigy has become convinced doomsday is fast approaching for his current
universe.
Into
this claustrophobic family unit comes “The Man.” Given his shared history with “The
Mother,” he is most likely the Boy’s father, but he has never been allowed to
serve in that role until now. His presence is a healthy influence on the boy,
but it is probably too late for the prodigy and the world. Eventually, his
psyche will shatter, with each shard reflecting a different parallel plane of
reality.
Frankly,
viewers shouldn’t get too hung up on the narrative arc of Erlprince. Czekaj is more interested in marrying up post-Einstein
psychics with darkly fantastical romantic archetypes. Unfortunately, it all
probably sounds more mind-blowing than it really is. The first two acts are
dominated by teen angst and family dysfunction, whereas the third act largely compares
and contrasts the Boy’s various possible Sliding
Doors-esque alternate fates. We see the Boy getting bullied by girls,
before his mother comes to his rescue. There are also hints of gender-bending
when the Mother adopts a boyish haircut, presumably to fill the Boy’s father
figure vacancy (however, making out with the Boy’s homeroom teacher seems to be
taking it to dubious extremes).
As
the boy prince of physics, Staszek Cywka is a veritable picture of teen neuroses.
However, Agnieszka Podsiadlik is an overpowering force to reckon with as the
hot mess Mother, like a cross between Terminator’s
Sarah Connor and Mommie Dearest’s Joan
Crawford. Yes, you can certainly call her domineering.
