The Structure of Crystal

It is with his second film "The Structure of Crystals"/Struktura Krysztalu that Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi embarked on an artistic mission to reveal bitter truth in his films. Most of his films contain numerous autobiographical references and are based on ordinary events featuring determined people who make untiring efforts to comprehend their troubled existences. This film is centered around a small family welcoming a friend who has come from USA. It is with absolute nonchalance that the characters utter their dialogs which have an air of scientific language. The audience becomes a part of the disagreement among the friends when they fight it out over some minor issues including one's perspective about people and aim in life. Apart from being a good piece of cinema of moral concern, "Struktura Krysztalu" reveals itself as an absolute delight for philosophy practitioners as Zanussi mentions some of the greatest names in western philosophy namely Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. It is through them that the protagonists of the film declare their dislike for infinity which is merely a mathematical concept. The last days of the great Russian writer Anton Chekov are also discussed by this film's actors enabling them to realize the banality of their conversations but also the apparent emptiness of their vacuous existence.