Direction
Skolimowski's hyperkinetic camera never lets you breathe.
Cinematography
Bleach-bypass Warsaw looks like a memory already fading.
Editing
Jump cuts that would make Godard jealous.
Director
Jerzy Skolimowski
Joanna Szczerbic
Tram Driver
Jan Nowicki
Protagonist
Tadeusz Łomnicki
Doctor
Maria Malicka
Restaurant Janitor
Zdzisław Maklakiewicz
Magazine Salesman
Ryszard Pietruski
Headwaiter
Bogdan Baer
Man at the Bar
Henryk Bąk
Doctor calling for Blood Donors
Marta Dutkiewicz
Ryszarda Hanin
Tram Depot Boss
Andrzej Herder
Maniuś
Małgorzata Lorentowicz
Housewife
Zygmunt Malanowicz
Eddy
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Skolimowski shot this immediately after Le Départ won him international acclaim; Polish authorities hated it so much they shelved it for two years.
The 'barrier' itself was a real Warsaw construction project—a never-completed Stalinist palace that became the perfect metaphor for broken communist promises.
PL
