After fun-loving metalhead Jacek is disfigured in an accident at work, he becomes the first person in Poland to receive a face transplant. This leads to his status as a media spectacle and martyr, all while battling ensuing identity issues as a consequence.
Acting
Kościukiewicz's physical transformation is genuinely haunting.
Direction
Szumowska's deadpan cruelty hits like a gut punch.
Cinematography
Gray Poland has never looked more oppressively beautiful.

Director
Małgorzata Szumowska
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kościukiewicz spent hours daily in prosthetic makeup; the transplant aftermath required minimal digital enhancement.
Szumowska deliberately set this in her Polish hometown to critique how Catholic nationalism consumes individual suffering for collective glory.