What if the only thing more toxic than brain cancer is conservatory culture?
Andrzej and Grzegorz are students of Warsaw Conservatory and preparing for the International Piano Competition. Eva - a beautiful Grzegorz's girlfriend is seriously ill, the doctors suspect she has brain cancer. Even for the sake of health and life of his beloved Grzegorz disagrees to miss even a single day of preparation for the contest. Andrzej has a girlfriend Zosia (the daughter of a professor of music), but the young pianist falls in love with Grzegorz's girlfriend and takes care of the sick Eve.
Acting
Snopkiewicz's luminous fragility anchors the whole melodrama.
Score
Chopin everywhere, because of course it is—it's a piano movie.
Director
Jan Batory
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Poland's communist period, the film subtly critiques how state-sanctioned artistic competitions consumed young lives. The International Chopin Piano Competition was—and remains—an actual obsession in Polish culture.
Director Jan Batory was primarily known for popular comedies; this rare drama was his attempt at 'serious' cinema. Polish audiences reportedly found it either devastating or hilariously overwrought, sometimes both.
PL
