TEACHER GUIDE
EU
FO
RIA
SEXMISSION
EUROPEAN FILMS
FOR INNOVATIVE
AUDIENCE
DEVELOPMENT
TEACHER GUIDE
1
Topic: In Search of a Perfect World
Author:Jolanta Manthey
Stage of education: Senior high school
Duration: 2 lessons (plus the film projection)
Methods and work forms:
• work in groups
• discussion
Lesson course:
Before the lesson we ask students to recall literary images of lands of happiness
Presentation, group work, working with the source
text and parts of the film, discussion
Didactic materials:
Before the lesson we ask students to recall literary images of lands of happiness.
1. The teacher begins the lesson with an introduction – asks about biblical and mythical images of
lands of happiness. S/he recalls the topos of Arcadia, reminding them of its origin. It is worth to
draw attention to the fact that the images of arcadia are very different (for example countryside,
childhood) and they usually connect the state of
happiness with peace and harmony based on the
laws of nature perceived in opposition to civilization, seen as a source of conflicts and problems.
2. Longing for universal happiness which is expressed in tales of ‘paradise lost’ (this is how Arcadia can be perceived), people tried to improve
the imperfect world in different ways. This pursuit
is expressed in the literature of many periods.
TEACHER GUIDE
SEXMISSION
3. Work in groups (15 min.) – see: attachments
4. After this time we ask the groups’ representatives to show the results (up to 5 minutes per
group), it is important that all students make
notes.
5. Together, the teacher and the class draw conclusions, pointing out to similarities and differences in Thomas More, Campanelli and Krasicki’s utopias as well as the novel by Huxley – we introduce
(recall) the concept of anti-utopia.
[anti-utopia «the vision of a society heading towards the catastrophe and self-annihilation; also:
a work of fiction presenting such a vision» - SJP
PWN Dictionary; Anti-utopia (negative-utopia)
– a piece of work presenting the society of the
future, the organisation of which limits the freedoms of individuals by gaining total control over
the citizens with a totalitarian regime. It is the opposite of utopia as the perfect social order it presents is often based on totalitarian control over
people turning them into passive objects.
Source
pl.wikipedia.org
We remind the students about the necessity to
take notes.
2
It is astounding that in the cinematography totally
deprived of the entertainment tradition, somebody like Juliusz Machulski managed to survive.
Sexmission is a comedy, made in a science fiction
convention. After half of the century hibernation,
the protagonists’ struggle to survive and save their
masculinity begins. (…) The idea
itself is amusing and perverse
because it deals with (…) the
eternal sex conflict. (…). In fact,
Sexmission is a
perfect mockery
on feminist movements
that were, are and will be. (…)
The film sparkles with women’s
beauty, [however] the real star
is Jerzy Stuhr, (…) representing
a typical, diehard male convinced
about the timeless power of the biological
drive, a type perfectly contrasted with a sentimental wimp, played by Olgierd Łukaszewicz.
Małgorzata Dipont
Trzymajcie się chłopaki, Życie Warszawy 1984,
no. 122
TEACHER GUIDE
FILM REVIEWS
AND ANALYSES
The idea for a scenario that came into Juliusz Machulski’s head, seems to be quite eccentric even
today: the world of the future, ruled by women
and men as extinct species, “just like mammoths”.
What is more, everything is presented in a slightly
erotic way and not really seriously. The director
mentioned that in the times of the Polish People’s
Republic, cinema was a way to forget about the
grim reality so unusual ideas easily pleased the
audience. Especially the ones that in the guise
of a comedy mocked totalitarian apparatus.
The parallel between the hypocritical police
state where women are custodians and the
Polish People’s Republic, especially just after
the martial law (the film was screened in May
1984) was obvious for the audience of that time.
Max and Albercik struggling with inhuman system
were the heroes of their times. Recollection of the
martial law led to the audience seeing allusions
in everything: the fact that women in the film
were wearing military-style uniforms or various
bon mots such as the one uttered by Max: “Direction - East! There must be a civilisation there”
confirmed the conviction and the reception of the
film was similar to the cabarets of those times that
smuggled the criticism of totalitarianism in a form
of jokes.
3
TEACHER GUIDE
Machulski himself denies having such intentions,
he claims that he was not interested in fighting
the system at all, he just wanted to make films of
specific genre and after the crime story “Vabank”,
he felt like trying the science fiction convention.
As he was afraid that in rough conditions of film
technique in those times, he would not manage
to achieve an effect that would be convincing
enough, he decided it would be better to satirize
the convention on purpose – hence the idea to
make a comedy film. However, the director confirms that political conditions obviously had some
influence on the way the film is like.
Katarzyna Nowakowska
Po prostu: “Seksmisja”
Source
film.onet.pl
Another thing is the acting, especially the phenomenal performance of Jerzy Stuhr as the ribald
Maks and the contrasting role of Olgierd Lukaszewicz as the wimpy Albert. Finally, we must also
mention the visual qualities of the film, as defined
by the theme and title. Machulski knew how to
attract male audiences, generously exploiting the
beauty of the female body. And although Sexmission is not short of exposed flesh, we can hardly
accuse the director of pornographic inclinations.
There is too much humour, unpretentiousness
and playfulness for that.
Source
akademiapolskiegofilmu.pl
Juliusz Machulski is an incredibly talented artist
and his films are not only original but also timeless. One of such pictures is the abovementioned
“Seksmisja”.
Such an innovative and ingenious script is not
easily found. Even though the comedy by Juliusz
Machulski was filmed almost thirty years ago, it
still fascinates new generations with its originality. Don’t you agree? This film simply does not age
and the problems of domination of one of the
sexes, nuclear war or modern technological progress raised in it are still relevant. The seemingly
simple plot presented in the film is a hilarious story with one of a kind vision of a near-future society where women rule the world and men simply
do not exist. As for the 1980s, “Seksmisja” was an
exceptional production.
4
TEACHER GUIDE
A very ingenious science fiction cinema. No wonder it became a cult film and in one of the biggest English-language film databases, IMDb, it occupies one of the top positions in the ranking of
“Best science fiction movies”.
Kobieta mnie bije!
anyone?) and the group of jazz performing lesbians Max and Albert stumble across during their
second escape. There are also neat twists that reveal all is not what it seems and complicate the
message, and the male sexual fantasy set up is
lampooned with vigour even if it’s not clear whose
side they’re on. Probably both.
Source
www.filmweb.pl
Source
www.thespinningimage.co.uk
Written by the director Juliusz Machulski with
Jolanta Hartwig and Pavel Hajny, Sexmission,
or Sexmisja as it was known as in its native Polish, was an East European sex comedy strongly
reminiscent of Woody Allen’s similar film Sleeper.
However, while Allen sent up the society of the
seventies, Sexmission tackles the battle of the
sexes as the world Max and Albert are revived in
is entirely populated by women. It’s a lot like those
nineteen-fifties sci-fi movies where the astronauts
would land amongst a race of females, like CatWomen of the Moon or Queen of Outer Space,
except here it’s not so much camp as played for
laughs. It’s interesting that a country which was
under a strict regime itself should produce a criticism of such a state, but mainly this is about the
sexes getting along with each other and falling in
love. I don’t know how long it took for women’s
liberation to reach Poland, but on this evidence
it wasn’t taken very seriously. Sexmission is pretty
funny for all that, and brightly acted by Stuhr and
Lukaszewicz, featuring some fun details such as
the radiation mutated animals (a tortoise-rabbit,
5
EU
FO
RIA
TEACHER GUIDE
This guide was made for nonprofit
educational purposes only.
All copyrights of images and texts
belong to their respective original
owners and are used under
"fair use" for this non-commercial
educational initiative.
EUROPEAN FILMS
FOR INNOVATIVE
AUDIENCE
DEVELOPMENT
6