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Presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in collaboration with the Polish Cultural Institute of New York and Film Polski. Special thanks to Pawel Potoroczyn and Jolanta Galicka.
A founding member, along with Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Munk and Tadeusz Konwicki, of what's become known as the "Polish Spring," that remarkable film movement that revolutionized filmmaking across Eastern Europe in the late 1950s, Jerzy Kawalerowicz hopes to be with us in New York for the opening of this retrospective tribute to his work.
All films, it might be said, are "historical" in the sense that they reflect something about the moments in which they are set as well as when they were made. Yet few filmmakers could be said to have taken the very notion of history as seriously in their work as Jerzy Kawalerowicz. Since his very first works, Kawalerowicz has always sought to trace the intricate relationship between his protagonists and their social/political contexts. Avoiding both strict determinism as well as romantic individualism, Kawalerowicz tries to show how specific historical moments might limit or define one's range of choices, yet there is always room for an act of personal conscience. This careful balance between the films' rich background details as well as the subtle rendering of characters' emotions and psychology give his work a novelistic quality. In a Kawalerowicz film one experiences a historical moment as much as one follows a story. Arguably the master cinematic stylist of the Polish cinema, his visual approach to his films has ranged from the cavernous long shots of Pharaoh to the intense close-ups of Death of a President; from the neo-realism of A Night of Remembrance to the film noir atmosphere of Night Train. His films also offer a chance to see and enjoy some of the Polish cinema's finest actors in some of their greatest roles: Zbigniew Cybulski, Lucyna Winnicka, Jerzy Zelnik, Wojciech Pszoniak, and Boguslaw Linda.
MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS / MATKA JOANNA OD ANIOLOW
Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1961; 110m
The film begins as a priest, Father Suryn, arrives at a small inn for a night's rest. He has been sent to investigate a case of demonic possession at a nearby convent. The next day, he sets out for the convent, where he meets its abbess, Mother Joan (the great Lucyna Winnicka, in a mesmerizing performance), said to be the most possessed of all the nuns. Shooting in a high contrast black and white, Kawalerowicz emphasizes the physical aspects of the seeming take-over of all-too-human bodies by demons; the images of the white-clad nuns convulsing in what might be ecstasy or might be torment are truly unforgettable. The confrontation between Father Suryn and Mother Joan forms the core of the film, as each will test the limits of the other's faith and sense of identity.
Fri Jan 30: 2 & 6:15* (*Mr. Kawalerowicz present); Mon Feb 2: 4 & 8:45
NIGHT TRAIN / POCIAG
Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1959; 99m
On a late train leaving a city for a sea resort, a diverse set of pilgrims - an old lawyer with a young wife, a priest chaperoning a group of elderly women, a surgeon running away from an unsuccessful operation, a woman escaping a failed marriage, and a murderer - set out in hope that their individual journeys will offer each of them a chance for a new beginning. When first released, NIGHT TRAIN was criticized for its seeming avoidance of national or important themes, yet seen today it stands as one of the great classics of that most fertile period of Polish cinema. Kawalerowicz and his great cinematographer Jan Laskowski transform the train ride through rhythm, lighting and setting into a mosaic of individual worlds and perspectives.
Fri Jan 30: 4:15 & 8:45; Thu Feb 5: 4:30; Sun Feb 8: 5; Thu Feb 12: 6:15
PHARAOH / FARAON
Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1966; 180m
Working on the adaptation of Prus's novel with novelist and filmmaker Tadeusz Konwicki, Kawalerowicz created one of the most visually sumptuous visions of the ancient world ever put on film. Young Prince Ramses dreams of halting the slow decline of Egypt; his attempt to reform the kingdom draws him into conflict with the all-powerful priestly caste, especially its leader Herihor, who has been the real power behind the throne. Taking a Jewish woman as his mistress, and insisting on social reforms, Ramses, struggle with the priests soon turns into open warfare. Insisting on the greatest possible historical accuracy in sets and costumes, and shooting partially in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, Kawalerowicz brilliantly dissects the anatomy of power, observing in fine detail two brilliant and utterly opposed personalities.
Sat Jan 31: 2:30 Tue Feb 3: 1 & 7:30
DEATH OF A PRESIDENT /SMIERC PREZYDENTA
Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1977; 144m
On December 9, 1922, Gabriel Narutowicz was elected the first president of the recently reconstituted Poland. On December 16, 1922 - seven days after having been elected, and two days after having assumed office - Narutowicz was assassinated while attending an art exhibition. DEATH OF A PRESIDENT is a fascinating and meticulous reconstruction of the events leading up to this tragedy. Basing the film on the confession of the assassin, as well as other period documents, Kawalerowicz creates a revealing portrait of a Poland trying desperately to come together again as a nation after having been wiped out as a political entity for over a century.
Sat Jan 31: 6* (*Mr. Kawalerowicz present); Wed Feb 11: 3:15 & 8:30; Thu Feb 12: 3
AUSTERIA
Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1982; 107m
Working again with Tadeusz Konwicki, Kawalerowicz adapted Julian Stryjkowski's novel set in a country inn in Polish Galicia at the outbreak of World War I. As the various armies begin to advance, an exodus of Hasidic Jews arrives at the inn run by Tag; other Jewish refuges from the fighting, intellectuals and local tradesmen, soon join them. Tag, also a Jew, finds himself somewhat caught between both groups; he's neither been able to accept the mysticism of the Hasids nor the faith in secular society held by some of the others. All are waiting for some kind of sign, some kind of signal that will allow them their next move, but the battle lines keep shifting and escape seems less and less possible. According to Kawalerowicz, "AUSTERIA does not merely recapture the history of the Jewish community with its vivid folklore, customs and culture, with the Hasidic Jews' beliefs, and its unique humor; it is most of all a portrait of the not very distant past, a vanished world which we today can only glimpse as reflected light."
Sat Jan 31: 9; Wed Feb 11: 1 & 6:15
A NIGHT OF REMEMBRANCE / CELULOZA
Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1954; 124m
In adapting Igor Newerly's acclaimed novel Recollection from celluloid to the screen, Kawalerowicz and the author decided to make two films, A NIGHT OF REMEMBRANCE and UNDER THE PHRYGIAN STAR, both released within months of each other in 1954; both are powerful examples of the growing impact of Italian neo-realism - officially disapproved of by the authorities but influential anyway - on the new Polish cinema. This first part, set in the 1920s, traces the early years and young adulthood of a peasant's young son, Szeczesny, after he leaves the farm to try his luck in the big city. Working part-time in a cellulose factory, he first comes in contact with the emerging labor movement. Now radicalized, his politics will come to dominate his life, as he discovers that everything from jobs to schooling to military service to emotional relationships will test his loyalty to the cause.
Sun Feb 1: 2; Mon Feb 2: 1:30 & 6:20
UNDER THE PHRYGIAN STAR / POD GWIIAZDA FRYGIJSKA
Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1954; 122m
The second part of Kawalerowicz's "Cellulose Diptych," and a completely self-contained film in its own right, UNDER THE PHRYGIAN STAR picks up the story of Szczesny after he has become a full-time communist militant. The film offers a fascinating look at the political and social landscape of pre-war Poland, with the various intrigues and rivalries even between groups ostensibly on the same side of the political struggle. During this time Szczesny meets Madzia, with whom he soon falls in love. The developing relationship between them is set against the growing confrontation between the pre-war Polish government and the labor movement, culminating in massive street actions.
"Certainly the most accomplished Polish film of its time…thematically in line with other socialist realist biographical features, the Cellulose Diptych is characterized by its novel treatment of the positive hero; it is devoid of clichés, abounds with psychological characterization, stresses the role of individual and social forces, provides a panoramic scope, and depicts realistically various social strata." - Marek Haltof, Polish National Cinema
UNDER THE PHRYGIAN STAR is in Polish and has only Spanish subtitles. There will be simultaneous translation for its 3 screenings. No lab can add English subtitles to the original un-subtitled print because it is too fragile.
Sun Feb 1: 4:20; Thu Feb 5: 2; Sat Feb 7: 7:30
QUO VADIS
Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 2001; 167m
Already adapted several times for the cinema by filmmakers ranging from Louis Lumière to Mervyn Leroy, QUO VADIS was the biggest production in Polish film history, shot on locations in Tunisia, France, Poland and Rome with hundreds of extras and lavish sets and costumes. According to Kawalerowicz, "When I began work on this new version of Quo Vadis, my starting point was to be as faithful as possible to Sienkiewicz's thought and plot. I simultaneously wanted to take into account the distance separating the time when the novel was published from our own contemporary experience and thought. I tried to shift the weight of the story from the melodrama of Vincius and Ligia to the action involving Petronius, Nero and Chilon Chilonides, a change in keeping with Sienkiewicz's own work, which for me is essentially a drama of power, faith and love that leads inevitably to tragedy."
Sun Feb 1: 6:45* (*Mr. Kawalerowicz present); Sat Feb 7: 4; Tue Feb 10: 2
SHADOW / CIEN
Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1956; 96m
The first screenplay, based on one of his own stories, by noted writer Alexander Scibor-Rylski, SHADOW is a Rashomon-like investigation into the life of a man found dead after having been hurled from a train. As security agents, policemen and a medical examiner begin to piece together his identity, three accounts emerge: one set during the war, one in the immediate aftermath, and one in then contemporary Poland. In each, the murdered victim seems to have been a mysterious, ambiguous presence, of shifting loyalties and suspicious connections, who invariably set himself against the ruling powers of the time. Critics at the time attacked the film for its depiction of a world rife with secret agents and hidden enemies - a favorite Stalinist theme - yet the film seems rather to insist on how heroism or villany are so often matters of point of view and timing.
Wed Feb 4: 2:15 & 6:15; Sun Feb 8: 3
THE REAL END OF THE GREAT WAR / PRAWDZIWY KONIEC WIELKIEJ WOJNY
Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1957; 98m
Roza (Lucyna Winnicka) marries a promising young architect, Juliusz (Roland Glowacki); for a few months, they have a blissful life together. Then the war breaks out, and within weeks Juliusz is deported to a concentration camp. Months, and then years go by, until Roza abandons any hope that her husband might return. She meets and falls in love with another man, and tries to put her life back together, but one day, unexpectedly, Juliusz does return - a shattered, mere ghost of his former self, physically crippled and tormented by memories of the camps. First out of duty, then out of pity, Roza starts to care for him, but her feelings slowly are transformed into a kind of revulsion. Kawalerowicz here takes up a theme that would be frequently addressed by later Polish films: the lingering psychological and emotional scars wrought by the war, a kind of weight from the past impeding the creation of any kind of future.
Wed Feb 4: 4:15 & 8:15; Sun Feb 8: 1
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