SEKSMISJA

(vt Sex Mission) Film (1984). Zespoly Filmowe. Dir Juliusz Machulski, starring Olgierd psukaszewicz, Jerzy Stuhr, Bozena Stryjkowna, Boguslawa Pawelec. Screenplay Machulski, Jolanta Hartwig, Pawel Hajny. 121 mins.Colour.

   A solemn adventurer and a jolly wastrel volunteer for a CRYOGENICS experiment and wake up 50 years later, after atomic war has (supposedly) devastated the surface and the survivors have retreated into the usual underground enclaves. There are no more men, and the mildly totalitarian society is run by parthenogenetic women. The wastrel is keen on reintroducing traditional methods of procreation, while the SCIENTIST is more interested in demonstrating the follies of the brave new world. In the Eastern European tradition of satirical sf, this Polish production uses BUCK ROGERS trappings to get a few cheap laughs out of women. The occasional sharp point is made, but S is surprisingly unwitty and obvious; its anti- FEMINISM, latent throughout, emerges at the end when it is revealed that society's matriarch is a manipulative male transvestite. S is mainly redeemed by its wry performances, particularly by Stuhr, POLAND's favourite comedian, as the lecherous lazybones.

KN