by Rino Lu
– Wanda Przeworska portrays the confinement of labourers trapped in a dystopian world of toxic masculinity in this short film
Bubble is a five-minute animation that examines the oppression of labour and the question of liberty. Written and directed by Bratislava-based Wanda Przeworska, the film participated in the Slovakian national competition at Fest Anča, Žilina.
It follows a miniature cleaning lady who cautiously carries out her daily tasks in a distorted world. Ant-sized workers specialise in the everyday bodily care of two colossal men, responsible for trivial tasks like pedicures and removing earwax. Even when filled with disgruntlement, they are too weak to defend themselves.
Przeworska accentuates the figures’ contrasting sizes, creating a striking visual metaphor of the social difference between low-class workers and people of privilege. From the workers’ point of view, the heavyweights they serve are gargantuan – and conversely, they themselves are as minuscule as a fragile bug. From their perspective, a puff of smoke the big man exhales is as lethal as a grenade, and the cigarette butt he discards is as heavy as a tree trunk.
When the film’s protagonist is cleaning out a slobby, chubby man’s ear, she witnesses him abusively punishing another worker. This scene provokes her to run into his ear canal, only to discover a room full of people like herself inside the head. Here she suffers an act of violence with apparently fatal consequences.
Bubble does not, however, end with hopelessness and discouragement. The cleaning lady’s blood mingles with an effervescent tablet she carries with her for her work, unleashing a flow of bubbles which dramatically pour from the giant’s every orifice. The ant-sized workers are flushed out in a fantastical, dream-like conclusion.
By using a vibrant colour palette and a minimalist drawing style, Przeworska offers a wordless yet powerful portrait of the working class’ living conditions. The film poses the question: in a dystopian world like the one we inhabit today, is freedom as illusory as an unstable, floating bubble?
