u/United-Ad822

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This question came to my mind while I was watching the 2012 adaptation with Keira Knightley and Jude Law. The film totally fails to capture the soul of the novel, but then I remembered how I'd struggled, when reading the book, to locate its thematic centre. I loved the depth and detail of the characterisation, but what is Tolstoy actually saying with the characters? Is he even "saying" anything at all, or is the novel just describing the everyday world of the Russian aristocracy? I'd love to hear people's thoughts/opinions.

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What's the significance of the ruined church? It first appears early in the film, when Kaczmarek goes to pee and stumbles on it; he wanders into it and looks around, seeing a defaced mural of (presumably) the Virgin Mary. I assume this scene is pretty important thematically, from the way it's edited and the fact that Kaczmarek isn't otherwise a POV character, but I'm not sure what it is that's being communicated. The next time we see the church is at the very end, when Viktor and Zula come there to get "married"/commit suicide. Surely this indicates that the church is a symbolically significant location, or am I reading too much into it and it's simply just Pawlikowski's way of creating a neat narrative symmetry (by using it as a kind of bookend)?

1. How much do the angels actually know/understand about what they see? It seems as though they're supposed to know everything about life on earth, since their perspective is (I believe) detached from linear time; but in the scene where Cassiel and Damiel visit the circus in the afternoon, I get the impression that they're pretty nonplussed about what they're witnessing, since they just sit and stare blankly. Or am I wrong about this?
2. What's the purpose of the sequence with Cassiel jumping off the statue and moving through Berlin at warp speed? Is it showing how he wants to escape from the miseries of human life but can't because he's an angel and has to continue to witness it? It makes sense if so, but (and this links back to question #1) it seems prompted by his rage at the young man's suicide, also doesn't make that much sense to me if the angels already know in advance how things are going to play out.

I need some help with this film. I tend to get a little lost right after the introduction of Jost around 30-35 minutes from the end.The dialogues between him and Fontaine always strike me as a bit on the cryptic side.

For instance, why does Jost say, "It was for France. Why else would I sign up?" How does he think joining the German army will help France? (Also, he initially says he's in prison for stopping French people from getting on the Germans' trains, but later it seems like he's there for shooting a policeman.)

Later, Fontaine says, "You just had to come here," and Jost answers, "They're all gone." Who/what are all gone?