1982, Poland. A translator loses her husband and becomes a victim of her own sorrow. She looks to sex, to her son, to law, and to hypnotism when she has nothing else in this time of martial law when Solidarity was banned.
Direction
Kieślowski's controlled melancholy before his color trilogy
Acting
Szapołowska's raw, unraveling performance as Urszula
Cinematography
Muted grays that suffocate like martial law itself
Director
Krzysztof Kieślowski
Grażyna Szapołowska
Urszula Zyro
Maria Pakulnis
Joanna Stach
Aleksander Bardini
Mieczysław Labrador
Jerzy Radziwiłowicz
Antek Zyro
Artur Barciś
Dariusz Stach
Michał Bajor
Miecio
Marek Kondrat
Tomek
Tadeusz Bradecki
Hypnotizer
Danny Webb
American
Marzena Trybała
Marta Duraj
Adam Ferency
Rumcajs
Elżbieta Kilarska
Antek's Mother
Jerzy Kamas
Judge Biedroń
Hanna Dunowska
Justyna
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Poland's actual martial law period; Kieślowski smuggled political dissent through intimate domestic tragedy. The censors missed it entirely.
The hypnotism scene was improvised after Szapołowska actually entered a trance-like state on set—Kieślowski kept rolling.
PL
