When this year’s Oscar nominations were announced earlier last month, I was immediately drawn to one name: On Body and Soul. The film which had previously won the Golden Bear at Berlin Film festival, and now featured prominently in the Best Foreign Film category was vaguely familiar to me and, after a short search on IMDB, I realised why.
On Body and Soul is a spiritual romance which features a (heavily implied) autistic character and, as such, I had included the Hungarian film’s poster on my first Autism and Entertainment post – The beautiful image of a solemn woman, looking down on a snow covered landscape, was too enticing to ignore. However, after finally getting round to watching this critically acclaimed film, I can’t help but wish I hadn’t judged this book by its cover.
What is On Body and Soul About?
The plot of On Body and Soul is fairly simple: it is a romance set in an abattoir, and follows (autistic?) Maria, the new quality inspector and Endre, a financial director with a form of paralysis in his arm who, for reasons which never quite become clear, has become socially isolated.
You may be thinking that this hardly sound like the most riveting plot. However, there is quite an interesting wrinkle to this bog-standard narrative: when these two characters sleep, they occupy the same dream, where they are represented by a doe and stag, who spend their nights rummaging for food and water in a, beautifully shot, frozen landscape.
The film is mostly set in the abattoir and, as such, I should issue a strong warning, that this film contains highly gruesome scenes (pretty much from the start). It should be noted however, that On Body and Soul never intends to disturb the audience with these scenes. They serve more as a reminder of the everyday life of workers in the meat industry and provide a powerful juxtaposition to the lead couple’s wonderful dreams.
There are also a couple of sex scenes towards the end of the movie which I should mention and, although they do serve a purpose in the narrative, I kind of feel they were only used as the writer/director had decided that they might as well make the most out of their certificate 18.
How is Autism Depicted in On Body and Soul?
If we are to consider On Body and Soul’s lead character, Mária, as autistic, then it’s safe to say she is a carbon copy of every representation before her. Mária is socially awkward, highly intelligent and although she is missing some form of obsession (something which would complete the trifecta of autism signs in entertainment), it’s undeniable that she was intended to be in some way on the spectrum.
As many readers will know, the Hollywood autistic stereotype isn’t something which bothers me (and yes I know this isn’t from Hollywood). My philosophy has always been to consider how the character would appear to someone hearing about autism for the first time – which, if we are only concerning ourselves with the first half of the movie, isn’t too bad.
In fact, if we do just take into account the first two acts of On Body and Soul, then I would even go as far as to commend the film, for attempting to depict how someone with sensory issues may struggle during the more intimate moments of a relationship.
On the downside, this storyline is handled extremely poorly, as Mária comes across more as robotic and incapable of love, rather than, a woman struggling with physical connection (it also contains a 20 second mash potato groping scene, which goes on for 20 seconds too long, but I digress!).
Unfortunately, this portrayal doesn’t get much better, as it is later revealed that, despite never playing a game of cards in her life, Mária is a natural due to her unnecessary savant ability of being able to count cards (looks like someone spent too much time at the Rain Man institute of autistic portrayals).
So, On Body and Soul is a strange one for me. On paper I should love it, as it has amazing visuals, an intriguing plot and of course an autistic character (in my opinion). But even with all these things going for it, there is no way I could recommend it due to it’s poor handling of the subject matter and inconsistent narrative. I can understand why some critics are continuing to give On Body and Soul high praise, but, for me this Oscar nominated hit is a simple case of all body and no soul.
Carry on the Conversation
With that said, I would love to hear more opinions from the autistic community regarding On Body and Soul. Does anybody else find this portrayal of autism offensive and, if not, why? Alternatively if you have not seen On Body and Soul, then let me know in the comment section what you believe to be the worst portrayal of autism in film and TV.
As always, I can be found on Twitter @AutismRevised and via my email: AutisticandUnapologetic@gmail.com.
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Thank you for reading and I will see you next Saturday for more thoughts from across the spectrum.
