Jan Jakub Kolski’s film is based on Witold Gombrowicz’s novel under the same title.

Occupied Poland, 1943. Witold and Fryderyk go to the estate of an acquaintance, Hipolit, in Powórna. Soon the son of Hipolit’s acquaintance, Karol, also arrives. Witold believes Karol is a perfect match for Henia, Hipolit’s daughter. They are both beautiful and seem to be made for each other. So, Witold persuades Fryderyk to push Henia and Karol towards one another. Fryderyk accepts the ‘order’ and begins a mysterious game. They manipulate the people around them, relishing watching their reactions. However, not everything can be predicted…

The film received five Eagle Film Awards – for Best Supporting Actor (Jan Frycz), Best Music (Zygmunt Konieczny), Best Cinematography (Krzysztof Ptak), Best Production Design (Andrzej Przedworski) and Best Sound (Bertrand Come, Jacek Hamela, Katarzyna Dzida-Hamela). It also won six awards at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia for Best Actor (Krzysztof Majchrzak), Best Supporting Actor (Jan Frycz), Best Music and Best Sound, as well as the Audience Award and the Award of the Organisers of Festivals and Reviews of Polish Film Abroad. It was presented in competition at the 2003 IFF in Venice.

Q&A – Krzysztof Majchrzak; moderator – Łukasz Maciejewski

Screening as part of the project: FILMOKRĘGI