The Peasants

If you ever have the chance to make an animation film with directing power couple Hugh and DK Welchman, think carefully before signing on – because they have created “the slowest form of filmmaking ever devised”, as the duo asserted themselves back in 2017 when they released Loving Vincent, the first ever fully oil painted feature film in history. The Peasants, a thrilling and visually overwhelming adaptation from Władysław Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning novel of the same name, is their follow-up and proved to be an ever more challenging endeavour.

A period romantic tragedy straight from the vault of seminal Polish literature, The Peasants faithfully translates Reymont’s novel – once dubbed the greatest novel about the peasant condition - to the silver screen. The narrative unfolds in a late 19th-century Polish village – teeming with gossip, scandal, and ongoing feuds – held together by pride in the land, adherence to colourful traditions and deep-rooted patriarchy. At its heart is Jagna, a spirited young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of her surroundings. When she finds herself caught between the conflicting desires of the village’s richest farmer, his eldest son, and other suitors, her resistance puts her on a tragic collision course with the very community she calls home.

Originally filmed in live-action, The Peasants underwent a remarkable transformation through the hands of over ninety animators across four countries. The painstaking painting process took a blow when the studio in Ukraine was forced to shut down due to the war. Poignantly coinciding with the film’s narrative set against Russia’s occupation of Poland, this setback added an extra layer of resonance. With meticulous attention to the characters’ faces, the team recreated 1,500 paintings – with some 70,000 frames – inspired by 19th-century artists from the Young Poland Movement such as Józef Chelmonski, Ferdynand Ruszcyc and Leon Wyczólkowski. Working at a pace of less than two frames per day, the animators collectively invested over a quarter of a million man-hours into finishing the film.

But every hour, every brushstroke was worth it. Infused by a traditional score with haunting folk music, this rural romantic epic is steeped in religious mysticism and humankind’s (especially men’s) violent nature. The actors’ emotions are vividly captured in often impressionistic and dizzying paintings. A sensuous yet vile melodrama, The Peasants is a pictorial cinematic curiosity about the harrowing repercussions of patriarchy and the destructive power of blind, collective rage.