After Germany invades Poland and the Nazis order the confinement of all local Jews in the ghetto, medical doctor Artur Planck (Joseph Fiennes) manages to flee with his family, seeking refuge at the farm of Emilia (Kelly Harrison), their former grocer. With the Planck family hiding in her attic, Emilia finds her feelings for the physician growing stronger than she wants, or can control -- despite the dangers of the situation.
Acting
Kelly Harrison's suffocated longing in every stolen glance.
Direction
Uri Barbash traps you in that attic's claustrophobic dread.
Production
The farmhouse as pressure cooker — every creak means death.
Director
Uri Barbash
Mirosław Baka
Woytek
Joseph Fiennes
Artur Planck
Clare Higgins
Clara Planck
Kelly Harrison
Young Emilia
Neve McIntosh
Young Clara Plank
Maria Pakulnis
Emilia
Sinéad Matthews
Tania
Łukasz Simlat
Vladek
Stanisław Brejdygant
Pankiewicz
Andrzej Blumenfeld
Mayor
Andrzej Chichłowski
Kampinski
Leszek Lichota
SS Sergeant
Michał Anioł
German Soldier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of a wave of 2000s 'Holocaust romance' films (see also: The Pianist's influence) that critics hotly debated for aestheticizing atrocity.
Joseph Fiennes learned Polish phonetically for the role, which explains why his emotional scenes land harder than his dialogue.
US
