A Polish alchemist turns lead to gold — and your sanity into lead.
Cinematography
Shadow-drenched Eastern European aesthetic that haunts your dreams.
Acting
Jerzy Nowak's prince — pathetic, terrifying, utterly magnetic.
Direction
Koprowicz builds dread through silence and candlelight like a patient torturer.
Director
Jacek Koprowicz
Jerzy Nowak
Książę Kiejstut
Michał Pawlicki
Von Lotz
Leon Niemczyk
Zwinger
Michał Bajor
Książę Fryderyk
August Kowalczyk
Seton
Joanna Szczepkowska
Teresa Seton
Mariusz Dmochowski
Mistrz Melchior
Mieczysław Voit
Spowiednik
Olgierd Łukaszewicz
Sendivius
Marek Obertyn
Von Rumpf
Henryk Machalica
Vasari
Henryk Borowski
Father Salezy
Mariusz Benoit
Father Hieronim
Piotr Wysocki
Father Mervill
Maciej Tomaszewski
Conaro
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during the final years of Communist Poland, the film's alchemical greed reads as pointed political allegory.
Director Koprowicz spent years researching actual 17th-century alchemy texts; the rituals shown are disturbingly authentic.
PL
