D?J? VU

A psychological goldmine and a thriller at that, D?J? VU marks Serbian director Markovic's move from the realism of his early films to a more poetic style. Set in Yugoslavia in 1971, the film opens on a once brilliant and famous pianist, Mihailo, who now teaches night school in veritable obscurity. He leads a calm, lonely and rather strange life, isolated from his fellow faculty, as well as from his former genius. Into this stagnant life comes an abrupt disruption: a young and attractive female student who is free and easy with her body. She's not particularly interested in the pianist, but they begin an intensely erotic affair which affects him greatly. He begins to re-experience childhood situations and places, but with different details, causing a lot of trauma, painful emotions and pathological fear. The home he shares with his Communist compatriots was once the home of his wealthy parents, a locus for how the past and present merge in a sickening way, leading the pianist to the brink of an emotional cliff. For Markovic, the pianist represents a society that is lost from its roots, separated from its brilliance and its past, the realization of which may lead to tragedy. (In Serbian with English subtitles)