Picture of the film EO by Jerzy SKOLIMOWSKI © Aneta Gebska i Filip Gebski
Eo: Jerzy Skolimowski shows us the world through a donkey’s eyes
He may have reached the age of 84 and have 30-odd films to his name, but Jerzy Skolimowski still knows how to surprise us. Following Moonlighting (Best Screenplay Award, 1982) and The Shout (Special Jury Grand Prix, 1978), he's back In Competition with Eo, inspired by a Robert Bresson film that he loves more than anything. And the film's hero? A donkey.
The film explores the world through the eyes of Eo the donkey, who must leave the circus where he performs and say goodbye to the young, gentle Kasandra. He embarks on a fable-like journey of discovery and has encounters along the way – some happy, others more dangerous – but never loses his innocence.
This film is a tribute to Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) by Robert Bresson, a film very dear to Jerzy Skolimowski's heart, as he told Télérama magazine in 2010:
“This is the most important film for me, because it’s the only one that really moved me, that touched me deeply”
Jerzy Skolimowski admired Bresson's style, which he described as "stripped of all sentimentalism, nonchalant, almost indifferent". And now he's taken his turn at directing a donkey. His first experience of directing animals led him to conclude they were "incapable of faking anything. They quite simply just ARE". He uses the donkey to great effect to highlight innocence, a quality he says is essential in a cynical and heartless world.
Eo's friend Kasandra is played by the talented Sandra Drzymalska, star of the series Sexify. Eo also meets Vito, played by Lorenzo Zurzolo, from the series Baby, and a countess played by Isabelle Huppert.
