POLISH FILM ACADEMY

A drama which can be interpreted in universal terms as a study in human psychology that investigates resistance to the voluntarily accepted limitations of one’s own nature, and the imposed bans. This psycho-philosophical theme overlaps with reflections on restricting dogmas, different kinds of love that always require − according to the laws of nature − to be fulfilled, or, finally, the ignorance of one’s own soul, consequently leading to tragedy. One of the most visually stunning Polish films.

A monastery in the Polish borderlands in the eighteenth century. Father Suryn comes to exorcise Abbess Joanna who has been possessed by demons, but the mission ends when spontaneous feelings develop between them. To save Joanna, Suryn commits an absurd crime on innocent farmhands, thereby condemning his soul to eternal damnation. Plagued by the need for physical love, of which he was made aware by Joanna, he becomes a victim of false ideas rooted in his unshakeable faith. He calls these burgeoning feelings, a possession, deluding himself that the truth about the soul and the human body is thereby suppressed.

Jan Słodowski, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996