Costuming In Remembrance Directed By Anna Justice

The film Remembrance, directed by Anna Justice, tells the story of Hannah Silberstein and Tomasz Limanowski, who escaped from Auschwitz concentration camp during WWII. They later get separated and reunite after more than thirty years apart. The film centers on the love the two have for each other and how it lasted through those terrible times and even when both thought the other was dead. The director uses a number of elements in the movie to establish the relationship between these two characters and their interactions with others, though one stands out above others—costuming. In the text Film Art: An Introduction, the authors stated that “costumes may reinforce narrative and thematic patterns” (Bordwell 121). Throughout Remembrance, costuming

effectively utilizes narrative and thematic events in order emphasize the individual identities of the characters and the dynamic they have with each other.
In the concentration camp, clothing classifies people. The officers get clean, well-made uniforms, and the prisoners get dirty, plain-looking clothes with numbers and symbols to distinguish them. Hannah, being a Jew, has a star on her clothes, and Tomasz, being a Polish political prisoner, has a red triangle. The Nazis also referred to the prisoners solely by the numbers printed on their clothes. The director utilized this contrast in clothing to illustrate the Nazi’s intentions to dehumanize, demean and ridicule the prisoners so that it was easier for the Nazis to treat them so harshly.
In order to escape, Tomasz procures a uniform and poses as an officer.

With the uniform on, he simply walks out the gate with Hannah. Though this uniform represents the very people that did all those awful acts, it becomes a means of salvation for them both. Furthermore, when Hannah and Tomasz finally come to civilization, one of the first things they do is find new clothes to wear; the very uniform that Tomasz used to escape is now a way of identifying him. The moment that they get new clothes is the moment that they both feel that they may get out of this situation alive. When Hannah gets her clothes and talks about what she plans to do with them, we see her smile for the first time since the start of them movie. Also, shortly after this scene they become intimate for the first time since the escape; the clothes give them a sense of freedom, if only

temporarily.
Later, Tomasz and Hannah go to his childhood home.

There they encounter Tomasz’s mother who quickly expresses her distaste for Hannah, as she is a Jew. Tomasz soon must go and leaves Hannah with her, but as soon as the mother gets the opportunity, she, in a way, sets Hannah up to be found. When this fails, though, Hannah doesn’t say a word; she simply takes two things as she leaves, a dress from the wardrobe and a picture of Tomasz from the nightstand. Hannah takes the dress not only because she is in need of new clothes, but because she wants to express her anger towards her. Hannah could not protest her treatment at the concentration camp, but she is more than capable of showing defiance towards Tomasz’s mother. Hannah is tired of people treating her as lesser than, and this is her way of fighting against

it.
In present time, Hannah’s outfits are always well put together. This is often at odds with how she is acting in the moment. For example, when she is at the party thinking of Tomasz then disappears for a while, she is wearing a stylish skirt suit and her hair is done up. This is in stark contrast to what she is feeling presently, which is distracted and a little eccentric. The clothes she wears reflect how she wants people to see her, as nice and calm. There are many things in Hannah’s life that she cannot control, but she can control how she presents herself and she does this through her choice of clothing. Additionally, when Hannah pictures Tomasz, he is wearing the clothes he wore in the concentration camp. The director did this to show that when Hannah remember Tomasz, she remembers him as he was when they first fell in love. By this we, the audience, can tell that Hannah loves the idea of Tomasz maybe more than the actual person, and that finding him is more of an obsession than anything else.
The costuming in this film is much more than the clothing the characters wear. It acts as major thematic and narrative points throughout Remembrance. In almost every major scene, the costumes play important roles, whether they be symbolic, like taking the mother’s dress, or major plot points, like the officer’s uniform they used to escape. They serve as a way for the characters to express their feeling towards others, as the Nazis did with the Jews and Hannah did when picturing Tomasz.