After a con-man is released from prison, he gradually gets back to his old tricks, but his cons grow ever more elaborate and travel steadily up the ladder of society until he has local politicians and important government ministers involved in his schemes.
Acting
Fronczewski's magnetic, slippery charisma carries every scene
Writing
Schemes escalate with delicious inevitability
Direction
Bork balances farce with biting social critique
Director
Mirosław Bork
Piotr Fronczewski
Czesław Wiśniak / Jacek Ben Silberstein
Maria Pakulnis
Anka
Krzysztof Zaleski
Roman
Gustaw Lutkiewicz
Judge
Grażyna Krukówna
Janka
Henryk Bista
Marian Lugowski
Ryszard Kotys
Local Communist Party Secretary
Jerzy Schejbal
Ordynator
Leon Niemczyk
Jerzy Berger
Michał Pawlicki
Provincial Governor
Jerzy Bończak
Taksówkarz Zdzisław Mitura
Zdzisław Kuźniar
Nowak, sekretarz POP w zakładach
Maciej Góraj
Andrzej, kolega Wiśniaka z celi
Janusz Bukowski
Jan Guz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Poland's final communist years, the film satirizes a crumbling system's vulnerability to charismatic fraud—remarkably prescient given the political chaos of 1989.
Fronczewski, a beloved Polish theater actor, reportedly improvised several cons—director Bork kept rolling, capturing genuine reactions from co-stars who didn't know what was coming.
PL
