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THE ISSA VALLEY [1982]

year:: 1982
release date:: 20 IX 1982
runtime:: 102 min

directed by:: Tadeusz Konwicki

written by:: Tadeusz Konwicki based on the novel by Czesław Miłosz

director of photography:: Jerzy Łukaszewicz

cast:: Anna Dymna [Magdalena], Maria Pakulnis [Barbarka], Danuta Szaflarska [Michalina Surkontowa], Ewa Wiśniewska [Helena Juchniewicz], Edward Dziewoński [Kazimierz Surkont], Krzysztof Gosztyła [forester Baltazar], Jerzy Kamas [Romuald Bukowski], Jerzy Kryszak [devil Niemczyk], Maciej Mazurkiewicz [Tomaszek], Ewa Kuzyk-Florczak [Antonina, the Surkonts’ servant], Anna Juszkiewicz [the Surkonts’ maid], Marta Lipińska [Tekla Dilbinowa], Hanna Skarżanka [Bukowska, mother of Romuald, Dionizy and Wiktor], Joanna Szczepkowska [a rabbi]

edited by:: Krystyna Rutkowska

music by:: Zygmunt Konieczny

production design:: Andrzej Borecki

produced by:: Zespół Filmowy „Perspektywa”

executive producer:: Ryszard Chutkowski

About the film

A film full of symbolic images, reminiscent of a dream of returning to a land of lost childhood. The world seen through the eyes of a boy − sometimes idyllic, sometimes cruel − shaped by the child's imagination.

A village in Kaunas, Lithuania, the end of the First World War. Counterpoints to the plot are images of New York and recitation of poems by Czesław Milosz. Forester Baltazar, who killed a Russian soldier, is plagued with remorse. A spectre of the devil appears before him.

Little Tomaszek, raised by his grandparents, resides at Surkont Manor. Old Mr. Surkont tells him the complex story of their family. They are Lithuanians of Polish and German descent. Aunt Helen arrives for a visit. She goes for walks with a Polish nobleman, Romuald Bukowski, and has an affair with him. Trying to find peace, Balthazar visits the sorcerer Masiulis. The old man cannot, however, free him from his guilt. The forester goes to see a rabbi. He hears that he is responsible for his own fate. The beautiful Magdalena, housekeeper of the priest, commits suicide out of love for him. After her death, she begins to haunt the village as a phantom. Peasants dig up her body, cut off her head and pierce her heart with a wooden aspen stake. A Lithuanian woman, Barbara, is in love with Romuald. Jealous of Helena, she asks Masiulis to help her win over her beloved with magic herbs. Old Mrs. Surkont, Tomaszek’s grandmother, dies. After her death, she becomes young again and meets the spectre of Magdalena in the hills. Barbara finally manages to get Romuald. She becomes his mistress. In a fit of jealousy, she slaps Bukowski in the face and accuses him of cheating. His male honour is offended, Romuald flogs her as punishment. In retaliation, Barbarka brutally drives away Helena who has come for a visit. Bukowski decides to marry Barbarka. Haunted and afraid, Baltazar sets fire to his house. He does not have the courage to die in the flames himself, though. The pursuers capture him in the woods. He is killed. Tomaszek’s mother arrives. She intends to take him from Lithuania to Poland, which has just gained independence.

Joanna Piątek, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996