Metaphysics in the cinema of Andrzej Żuławski. Interpretation in the context of the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer and the contemporary biological sciences

Abstract

The films of Andrzej Żuławski are metaphysical. Their metaphysics is based on the understanding of the biological life and comes from the philosophical contemplation of the body and sexuality. They present a coherent, complementary vision of the world, therefore in refer to the themes that I have chosen, I interpret all of his movies. In this article I deal with the situation of the men in Andrzej Żuławski’s movies who discover, as in Schopenhauer’s philosophy, “death and immortality of their own essence”. The body becomes the fundamental of the metaphysics, as it is in the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer and the contemporary evolutionary biology and genetics (Żuławski refers to them as well). I also rediscover the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer in the context of the contemporary biological sciences. His metaphysical perspective concerning the immortality is still present among the contemporary evolutionists and geneticists (“immortal genes”, “molecules of DNA are immortal”), although they are not always aware of it. The characters in the Żuławski’s movies rebel against evil and the incomprehensive mystery of the renewing and regenerating life (biological acting) which makes the human fate alike through the generations (On the silver globe). The Tree of Life, stairs, the Ladder of Jacob (and even train in the Limpet Love) become the metaphor of the transgressing Tremendousness, transformation and change. Eventually the characters find the sexuality as the source and the root of the existence, the key to the resurrection (not of persons but their essence) and immortality (On the silver globe, Possession).