ILLUMINATION [1972]
year:
- 1972
release date:
- 23 XI 1973
runtime:
- 87 min
directed by:
- Krzysztof Zanussi
written by:
- Krzysztof Zanussi
director of photography:
- Edward Kłosiński
cast:
- Stanisław Latałło [Franciszek Retman], Monika Dzienisiewicz-Olbrychska [Agnieszka], Małgorzata Pritulak [Małgorzata, Franciszek’s wife], Jan Skotnicki [a patient], Edward Żebrowski [a doctor], Włodzimierz Zonn [Dean], Bogdan Mielnik [imself], Władysław Turski [imself], Włodzimierz Zawadzki [an assistant], Łukasz Turski [an examination board member], Jadwiga Colonna-Walewska [Franciszek’s mother]
edited by:
- Urszula Śliwińska
music by:
- Wojciech Kilar
production design:
- Stefan Maciąg
produced by:
- Studio Filmowe „Tor”
executive producer:
- Jerzy Buchwald
awards:
-
• IFF Locarno (Switzerland) 1973: Grand Prix FIPRESCI, Ecumenical Jury Prize
• 1st International Film Meeting "Youth on the Screen" 1973: Grand Prix Great Jantar
• IFF Ravenna (Italy) 1973 Grand Prix
• IFF Mannheim (Germany) 1973: honorary mention
• The Włodzimierz Pietrzak Award 1973 for Krzysztof Zanussi
• Lubusz Film Summer Łagów 1974: Grand Prix Golden Grape, Artistic Coordination Council for Arthouse Cinema Award
• Warsaw Mermaid 1974
• Polish Film Festival Gdańsk 1974: Special Jury Award
• IFF Figueira da Foz (Portugal) 1975: Gold Medal
About the film
The confrontation between the individual and history and the individual with society, well-known to Polish cinema, is expanded on by Zanussi as he also includes the struggle against the absolute. This film set the tone for his later creative exploration.
In the prologue, Professor Władysław Tatarkiewicz explains the philosophical meaning of the word illumination.
Franciszek Retman comes from Pułtusk to Warsaw and starts studying at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw. As a student, he becomes entangled in an affair with Monika and then goes on a holiday in the Tatra Mountains, where he is traumatized by the death of his friend, a mountaineer. He must marry Małgorzata because the girl is pregnant. It is difficult to support a family on a student scholarship, so he takes leave of absence. He takes a job in a medical equipment factory and then in a psychiatric clinic, where – for money – he participates in a study of dreams. His attempts to explore the scientific meaning of death bring him only bitter disappointment and he decides to seek the truth in a Camaldoli monastery. After some time, Franciszek returns home to finish his studies and becomes an assistant professor. In March 1968, he embarks on a Ph.D., but at the threshold of his career his heart condition makes itself known.
Jan Słodowski, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996
