Krzysztof Zanussi's ‘The Constant Factor’: be like everyone else or die in the mountains
Year: 1980
Country: Poland
Conversations between the protagonist of the movie Krzysztof Zanussi "Constant" (1980) with a mathematician reveal the meaning of the whole movie.
Firstly, the characters discuss what a constant is. The mathematician defines it as follows: the most probable is so close in value to the mean that it can be considered as a constant value, that is, a constant - a certain "average person", a philistine who does "like everyone else."
Secondly, the hero longs to become not a constant, but an extreme, like his father, who "burned out" young, having fallen off a cliff high in the mountains. He likes to simplify the whole expression so that it all comes down to looking for an extreme.
The mathematician remarks to him that this is possible, but is not elegant, and only in simple conditions, as far as possible from reality. A little more complexity, a little more factors - and the whole system proposed by the main character would crumble.
“I thought I was such a genius,”
- the hero laments, but refuses to believe that all his efforts to “make the world a better place” are futile.
Everything ends badly. Precisely due to the fact that life is multifactorial and complex to the extent that it makes the protagonist's method impossible and destined for destruction.
However, the fact that in "this imperfect world" he cannot reach the extreme is not the worst thought for the hero.
The most heartbreaking thing is that he is a constant, if we consider not the details (attitude to bribes, official theft, etc.), but his personality.
He, just like the other characters in the film, is extremely busy with himself and his interests.
He likewise finds it difficult to rethink his behaviour and views.
He is just as preoccupied with external manifestations and details.
He likewise does not see others in their dynamics and depth.
He's like everyone else.
He is a human.
And this conclusion could free him from playing on the "banality-exclusiveness" field and give him the opportunity to think about the "seeds" of his actions in the most biblical sense, but it did not free him, since the hero did not come to it yet.
