IDENTIFICATION MARKS: NONE [1964]
year:
- 1964
release date:
- 18 XI 1965
runtime:
- 71 min
directed by:
- Jerzy Skolimowski
written by:
- Jerzy Skolimowski
director of photography:
- Witold Mickiewicz
cast:
- Elżbieta Czyżewska [3 roles: Teresa, Barbara, wife of Leszczyc], Jerzy Skolimowski [Andrzej Leszczyc], Tadeusz Minc, Jacek Szczęk [Mundek], Andrzej Żarnecki, Juliusz Lubicz-Lisowski [man in the phonebooth], Marek Piwowski [a man on the army drafting committee board]
edited by:
- Halina Gronek
music by:
- Krzysztof Sadowski
production design:
- Jerzy Skolimowski
produced by:
- Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Teatralna i Filmowa
executive producer:
- Zbigniew Brejtkopf
awards:
-
- FF PWSTiF Warszawa 1964: nagroda za reżyserię dla Jerzego Skolimowskiego, nagroda za zdjęcia dla Witolda Mickiewicza
- FF Arnhem (Holandia) 1965: Grand Prix za reżyserię dla Jerzego Skolimowskiego
- Syrenka Warszawska 1965 dla Jerzego Skolimowskiego
About the film
The first part of a diptych about the life of Andrzej Leszczyc (continued in Walkover), comprised of short student films made by Skolimowski during his four years in Film School. A stylistically original, generational character study of a young man: passive, lost, rejecting contact with an intolerable reality. A film debut that set new trends in the aesthetics of Polish cinema.
Early morning in Gomulka-era Poland. Andrew Leszczyc wakes up, leaves the sleeping Teresa and goes to the army drafting committee board. To the astonishment of the committee, he demands to be immediately conscripted. He explains that he has abandoned his ichthyologic studies and intends to start his adult life in the military.
He has the conscription card and a few hours left before his train departs. On board he intends to begin a desperate escape from his bleak, grey reality and aimless existence. He returns to the abandoned girl. He goes shopping, takes the dog to the vet and leaves the animal to be euthanized there. He borrows money from Mundek. On the tram, he meets Barbara, who seems to him the girl of his life. After a fight with his friends, he visits his apartment for the last time, takes the suitcase and jumps on the departing train which will take him to his military unit. Through the window, he sees Barbara waving at him.
Jan Słodowski, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996
