"Cosmos" (Guardian 19/08/16)

Cosmos **

Dir: Andrzej Zulawski. With: Sabine Azéma, Jean-François Balmer, Jonathan Genet, Victória Guerra. 103 mins. Cert: 15
 
The final film of the director Andrzej Zulawski – who passed in February, best remembered for 1981’s Isabelle Adjani freakout Possession – proves a characteristically eccentric undertaking, adapted from Witold Gombrowicz’s novel set within a mildewing B&B. One half-funny gag: that our harelip-worshipping writer hero (Jonathan Genet, resistible) is only as dotty as his fellow guests. Yet with all the actors operating some distance off the leash, even the sharper scenes soon clot into an impenetrable toplayer of gibberish tics. Cultists can claim it as proof Zulawski was doing his own thing until the end, but the film didn’t need releasing so much as sectioning for public safety. 

Cosmos is now showing in selected cinemas.