During the 1980's, Variety would invariably describe that Żuławski films are
‘hysterical’ in nature. Perhaps ‘ecstatic’ would be a more useful description,
especially in Eisenstein’s sense of the word, where ecstasy refers to some
extreme mental state of horror and pathos. Taken literally, ecstasy means 'out of stasis' and Eisenstein uses the term to characterize a feeling of getting 'carried away'.
- Daniel Bird (2008)
