THE STRUCTURE OF CRYSTALS ***

After a decade making shorts and films for television Krzysztof Zanussi finally made his feature debut with the short and slightly chilly art-house entry "The Structure of Crystals". It's about two old college friends, both scientists, who are reunited years later at the snowbound outpost where one of them lives and works. It's basically a chamber piece dealing with the very human issues of friendship and possible resentment and Zanussi imbues it with a dark humour. In dramatic terms nothing really happens but in spite of its setting and its subject it's anything but boring; it even alludes at one point to Chekov as if to say that boredom in itself need not be boring. It's also gorgeously shot in black and white by Stefan Matyjaszkiewicz; indeed, the whole film has the mark of a major talent.