From the year 2022 to 2052. This is time travel, round trip, which makes The girl and the cosmonaut, the new Netflix production. THE Polish miniseries it also oscillates between science fiction and romance. Or at least the way hookups last through the years.
In the opening scenes we see an astronaut sleeping in space. We don’t know what happened to him. A screen on your ship reads, “Starting recovery of vital functions.”
After a few seconds, the man wakes up. He was inside a process of hibernation for 30 years and his body did not suffer the signs of the passage of time. When everyone left him for dead, he returns to this planet where his ex-wife lives do you still love him?
Between love and experimentation
Through six nearly hour-long episodes told in parallel flashbacks, the series oscillates between two major themes. On the one hand, the construction of a science fiction story in which Poles and Russians vie for the astronaut. AND a background for reflection on experimentation with human beings like Black Mirror.
On the other, the love story of Nikodem and Marta. That is, the return of a lost love -in this case, in time and space- after a few decades and with an aggravating circumstance: she is married and has a daughter with Bogdan, a former friend-enemy of the air force. Style of top gunbut polish.
In literature, movies and series, science fiction is a powerful metaphorical tool to talk about the human condition. The problem here does not lie in the chosen themes, which allow the director to oscillate between science fiction and love drama.
Perhaps The biggest mistake is not sinking your teeth into anyone deep. Sometimes history is a matter of state between Poles and Russians. So the filmmakers want to theorize about the sheer cruelty of private corporations and their idea of prolonging human life by several years. And finally, they try to tell the love story through flashbacks.
The cast, led by Vanessa Alexander and Jakub Sasak, does a commendable job; the series is well shot and has a correct scenography. But none of that is enough, because the stuff it’s made of is loose.
Sometimes, like the vacuum chambers of those astronauts, the series turns into something ethereal, vague, boring… Like the cold dream of the cosmonaut. Nothing is consistent. Nothing is exciting or clever or beautiful enough. All half. And towards the end too hasty conclusions are drawn.
An astronaut who wakes up 30 years later without a day having passed in his body. Cryogenization as a fact and not as a chimera. A love story. A state feud between Russians and Poles. The series had all the potential to become a good story. But it ends up being a succession of boring and repetitive scenarios. In short: a ship that remains halfway.
File
The girl and the cosmonaut
Qualification: Regular.
Type: Science fiction protagonists: Vanessa Aleksander, Jedrzej Hycnar and Jakub Sasak creators: Agata Malesinska and Bartosz Prokopowicz Problem: Netflix Duration: Six 50-minute episodes.
Source: Clarin
