“In Zanussi's world, coldness has a really palpable impact. The Structure of Crystals, Illuminations, and now The Spiral; each has its best sequences amid snow and ice, and perhaps Zanussi's characters are animated by their struggle to retain human warmth in an enveloping bleakness. Like Malle's Le Feu Follet, this new film is about a man's commitment to death. From the moment (before even the credits) when he kicks his car keys over a high mountain bridge and watches them vanish irretrievably into the gorge below, he has begun his spiralling drift towards extinction. At a nearby lodge, he puzzles, irritates, and finally enrages the skiers and climbers in residence. Then, having insulted nearly everyone in sight, he disappears into the surrounding Tatras. Almost without hesitation, those who have borne the brunt of this unwelcome visitor's hostility, muster their resources to rescue him....
“Some filmmakers suffuse their frames with sunshine, achieving thereby a superficial humanity; Zanussi's films are more forbidding, but the warmth seeps through them as a spring thaw melts the snow.”

Please Note: The Spiral will be repeated Thursday, April 17, at 4:00.