NEVER SUBMISSIVE: MARBLE ASS (1994) BY ŽELIMIR ŽILNIK
Posted: Sep 30th 2008
Author: Zoran Janković
Although it was often read as a queer film for casting two real Belgrade transvestites to play themselves, and for being one of the first Serbian films told from the standpoint of sexually Other, Marble Ass by Želimir Žilnik (1942) should not be read only within these frames of interpretation. It is certainly a story about hard times of transsexuals on the streets of Belgrade, but it is also a film that comments on the war, economic disaster and record-breaking inflation in the nineties Serbia as well. Main characters Merlinka, Sanela and Johnny live in a country that is formally, at least according to the officials, not in a state of war, but actually it is: the battlefields in the neighboring republics-turned-countries have a crucial influence on the lives of street hobos, tramps, pimps and prostitutes… Heroes of Žilnik’s film often dream about a different world, so the contrast between the cruel reality of “life during wartime” and the wish for glamour and escape, between bad circumstances and utopia, becomes the core of Marble Ass. This contrast was present in other Žilnik’s films, and this director\'s artistic continuity and rebellious spirit are also evaluated in the essay.
2007 - 2012 Novi kadrovi, supported by Open Society Institute New York, and SCP Pro Helvetia Beograd, website by Breve