Slowly, but surely, I’m wading through scene IV. A little too slowly, what brings me to the verge of panic at times. But I pull back from the edge just in time. I’m not looking down.

I’ve got the material for this scene; while still not exactly clear in places, it is practically complete. I’ve got the lyrics, the music, and, say, the idea and the concept for it. I know who is saying what, why they are saying it, and how they feel about it, and what relevance it has to the unfolding plot. It is still a trudge, though, because I’m struggling with two conflicting tendencies: the desire to develop the material in two different directions. Direction one is dictated by the lyrics, which I feel are quite light-hearted, a little in the spirit of comedy or satire, which are changing frequently and abruptly, taking the colours off the upcoming phrases, so to say. Direction two is dictated by the music, which is coming on to me quite strongly; it is imposing itself on me even, and it is much more stable, it develops slower, and has its own climaxes, not necessarily light in character. I have to take an intense look at the passages to follow to see if they perhaps sound false. Of course, I won’t know that for sure even if I look at them over, and over again, so I have to move on. And so I’m moving on.

Şeküre is looking at this scene but isn’t saying anything. She might even not be visible at all. It is the viewpoint of the audience that fully becomes the viewpoint of Şeküre here. At least so it seems to me.

I went to the cinema yesterday, to see The Silent Twins by Agnieszka Smoczyńska. An excellent, deeply moving film, virtuosic, even, I’d say. The director returned to the convention of playing with elements of musical and, as it were, fluid realism, what she does masterfully (seen for the first time probably in The Lure (Córki dancingu), just as wonderful a film). By the way, The Silent Twins  film can serve as an interesting starting point to a discussion about true stories as the base for feature films. The results vary, but here the veracity of the source story lends striking power to the picture. I woke up this morning only to see that the film was awarded the Golden Lions award in Gdynia. I was not surprised.

(transl. Magdalena Małek-Andrzejowska)