Andrzej Zulawski Movies
Andrzej Zulawski was born on the territory of what was then the U.S.S.R. in a Polish family with remarkable traditions in arts and literature. After World War II, his father's diplomatic career brought the family to France (1945-1949), Czechoslovakia (1949-1952), and finally to Poland. He studied film direction at IDHEC in Paris (1957-1959) and philosophy at both Warsaw University (1961) and Université de Paris (1962-1964).First, he assisted the famous Polish director Andrzej Wajda during the filming of Samson (1961), Popioly (1966), and the Warsaw episode of L'Amour à Vingt Ans (1962). In 1967, Zulawski directed two short films, Piesn triumfujacej milosci and Pavoncello, for Polish TV. His feature debut, Trzecia Czesc Nocy (1971), as well as those previous films were co-scripted by his father, poet Miroslaw Zulawski. The picture was well received at the Venice Film Festival and awarded as the Best Debut in its homeland, but had only limited release due to Polish censorship. Zulawski's next feature, Diabel (1972), was outright banned and not released until 1988. The same happened to his next Polish project, Na Srebrnym Globie (1977). After he finished about 80 percent of the shooting, the authorities ordered him to abandon the picture and to destroy all related materials. Only in 1987 did he manage to complete the film from spare footage, using voice-over commentary for the missing parts.
Since the late '70s, Zulawski has lived and worked mostly in France, during which time he developed a knack for showcasing his actresses' talents. L'Important c'est d'aimer (1975) brought its star, Romy Schneider, a Cesar (French Oscar) as did Possession (1981) to Isabelle Adjani. He then found his muse in young actress Sophie Marceau who would star in four of his films. In 1996, he briefly returned to Poland where he made Szamanka.
Being a maverick who always defied mainstream commercialism, Zulawski enjoyed success mostly with the European art-house audiences. His wild, imaginative, and controversial pictures have received 16 awards at various international film festivals. He also wrote the novels Il était un verger, Lity bór (aka La Forêt Forteresse), V oczach tygrysa, and Ogród milosci. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
French filmmaker Josée Dayan directs the erotic drama Les Liaisons Dangereuses, based on the 18th century novel by Choderlos de Laclos and updated by screenwriter Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. A co-production of France and Canada, this French-language television miniseries is reimagined with a swinging '60s setting. Madame de Mertueil (Catherine Deneuve) and Vicomte de Valmont (Rupert Everett) are a couple of wealthy and seductive aristocrats. Advancing in years, Mertueil grows jealous when she learns that her old flame Gercourt (Andrzej Zulawski) is planning to marry the much younger Cécile Volanges (Leelee Sobieski). The bored rich couple plot a scheme to have Valmont seduce Cécile before the wedding. Valmont also goes to visit Rosemonde (Danielle Darrieux) in Saint Tropez, where he meets the married woman Marie Tourvel (Nastassja Kinski). Featuring a musical score by Angelo Badalamenti and period costumes by Jean-Paul Gaultier. Les Liaisons Dangereuses premiered on U.S. television on WE: Women's Entertainment in March 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Rupert Everett, (more)
- 2000
Maverick auteur Andrzej Zulawski directs this flamboyant adaptation of classic French novel La Princesse de Cleves, complete with dirt bike races, hot sex, and naked hockey players. Talented Canadian photographer Clelia (Sophie Marceau) lands a financially lucrative job in Paris at a rumor-mongering tabloid called La Verite run by Rupert MacRoi (Michel Subor). Though she finds most of her coworkers to be disillusioned and perverse, she happens upon Cleve (Pascal Greggory), a bumbling middle-aged children's book publisher. Cleve is days away from marrying MacRoi's daughter to bolster his flagging publishing house. Nonetheless, Clelia and Cleve retire to his office to make love almost immediately upon meeting. Though MacRoi has already bought his company, Cleve breaks off his wedding plans and proposes to Clelia. Enter Nemo (Guillaume Canet), a sexy young photographer who promptly propositions her upon their first encounter. In spite of her ferocious sexual attract to Nemo, Clelia marries Cleve and resolutely keeps to her wedding vows in the face of her suitor's continued advances. Madame de la Fayette's novel, from which this film draws inspiration, has already been adapted twice: the 1961 version was directed by Jean Delannoy and starred Marina Vlady, and the 1999 take, entitled The Letter was directed by Manoel de Oliveira and featured Chiara Mastroianni. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sophie Marceau, Pascal Greggory, (more)
- 1996
Director Andrzej Zulawski's adaptation of Manuela Gretkowska's controversial screenplay reaches new extremes in the depiction of brutality, explicit sex, and passion as it tells the story of an anthropology professor Michal's (Boguslaw Linda) growing obsession with a mummified shaman; spirituality; and the enigmatic, sexually voracious, violently disturbed beauty known only as "The Italian" (Iwona Petry). Along with very explicit erotic scenes, the film contains Zulawski's usual deliberate assaults on conventional morality, Catholicism, and Polish censorship -- any of which may offend certain viewers. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Boguslaw Linda, Iwona Petry, (more)
- 1991
On a summer day of 1846, George Sand hosts a large party at her country house in Nohant. Among the celebrities present are the painter Eugene Delacroix, the opera singer Pauline Viardot, and Viardot's lover, the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. As Sand's longtime affair with composer Frederick Chopin is close to an end, Sand's daughter Solange tries to use the situation to win the heart of the ailing musical genius. Filmmaker Andrzej Zulawski irreverently depicted his famous characters as shallow, petty, selfish opportunists, while Chopin is portrayed as a tragic, misunderstood genius. Ultimately a story about destiny, the film seems a personal reflection of Zulawski's experiences, for both he and Chopin were Polish expatriates in France. The film is highly theatrical and occasionally hilarious, but despite its ups and downs, the movie's highlight is Chopin's music, brilliantly performed by Polish pianist Janusz Olejniczak. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Janusz Olejniczak, Marie-France Pisier, (more)
- 1989
This is a highly adapted cinematic rendition of the great Russian opera Boris Godunov (1874), originally composed by Modest Mussorgsky (and later modified by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Dmitri Shostakovich and others). The opera is based on a play by the great Russian dramatist Alexander Pushkin. It tells a story of tragic proportions about a 16th century Czar of Russia. With so many culture heroes involved in one monolithic musical masterpiece (it is quite long), it is little wonder that any attempt to adapt it to the screen or change the focus of the original is likely to provoke howls of outrage from devotees of the original opera. That is precisely what happened with this well-intentioned international production. In addition to cutting over an hour out of the original production, it spends a great deal of time on the bedroom exploits of the various characters in the story. There is also some anachronistic material included that is intended to heighten the political commentary that is already present in the original opera. In the story, which is too long and involved to do more than summarize here, the tumultuous reign of the capable but ruthless Russian Czar Boris Godunov is narrated from the time he accepts the crown to his death. The Czar's brief reign (1598-1605) is characterized by intrigues, plots, betrayals, attempted coups, murders, and nearly every kind of calamity that can befall a leader. His only comfort is that he can bequeath his unruly empire to his son on his deathbed. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ruggero Raimondi, Kenneth Riegel, (more)
- 1989
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Lucas, a computer genius facing an unnamed terminal illness that causes him to lose his memory, meets Blanche, a young woman who seems unable to break free of her vicious environment. The two plunge into a brief but intense affair, understanding that their days together are numbered. This a strangely poetic and powerful film that celebrates love's victory over death and suggests that sentiment has some currency even in a pragmatic world. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sophie Marceau, Jacques Dutronc, (more)
The labyrinthine plot deals with a group of space researchers who left the Earth to find freedom. Their spaceship crashes and they land on the dark side of the Moon. They all die except one and leave a lot of children who eventually turn to shamanism and fire worship. They call the last survivor the Old Man and simultaneously loathe and revere him. Finally, the Old Man retreats to the mountains, puts his video diary into a small rocket and sends it to Earth. The rocket reaches its destination and the notes fall into the hands of another group of researchers. One of them, Marek, journeys to the Old Man's planet and lands in the mountains. When he emerges from the hills, the aboriginal inhabitants mistake him for the long-awaited reincarnation of the Old Man and look to him to deliver them from the dreaded sherns -- strange, winged mutants. The making of this film in 1978 was brutally interrupted by the Polish Ministry of Culture. When about 80% of the shooting was complete, they ordered the filmmakers to destroy all related materials. This decision caused director Andrzej Zulawski to leave his homeland for France, where he spent the next ten years. During the democratization of the Polish political regime in 1986-1987, Zulawski returned to the country to finish the picture. Having lost the sets, costumes, actors, and momentum, the director chose to complete the film from the spared footage, adding a voiceover for the missing episodes and utilizing other actors to dub the original actors who were no longer available. Even in this mutilated form, the film appears as a highly ambitious, if overwrought, sci-fi epic that draws upon philosophical concepts rather than special effects. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Andrzej Seweryn, Grazyna Dylag, (more)
- 1987
Juliette (Nastassja Kinski) is a hairstylist who is diagnosed with cancer in this tearjerking romantic drama. Her illness leads her to oncologist Raoul Bergeron (Michel Piccoli), and she ends up as his mistress. When Juliette falls in love with Raoul's intern Clement (Jean-Hughes Anglade), the jealous doctor threatens to sabotage Clement's career. Juliette spends the rest of the film jumping from Raoul to Clement and back again. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nastassja Kinski, Jean-Hugues Anglade, (more)
- 1985
Inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Idiot and intended as "a homage to the great writer," this film is set in modern France rather than 19th century Russia. This is a story of Léon (Francis Huster), who has been recently released from a mental asylum and claims to be a descendant of a Hungarian prince. On his way from Hungary to France, he meets Mickey (Tchéky Karyo), a hood who has committed a successful bank robbery and plans to take brutal revenge on the brothers Venin for what they did to his girlfriend Mary (Sophie Marceau). Léon can hardly understand what Mickey is up to but he follows him everywhere and soon falls in love with Mary. This odd love triangle resolves in a tragic ending. The frantic pace of the film's action can be compared to that of a runaway, hell-bound train. The colors and sounds go out of control, and violence abounds -- all of which is intended to convey to a viewer the craziness of the time. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sophie Marceau, Francis Huster, (more)
- 1985
In this cool, clinical adaptation of the novel about love and death by Yasunari Kawabata, Hugo (Andrzej Zulawski) is a writer whose one great book was based on an affair he had with Lea (Charlotte Rampling), a sculptor. Bereft of inspiration for a follow-up, Hugo returns years later to rekindle the flame of romance and creativity. Lea soundly rejects him, and her student Prudence (Myriem Roussel) feels a burning hatred for the man who deserted the woman/teacher she admires. So after Hugo returns to his wife and family in Paris, Prudence hunts him down to perversely seduce him in a mocking manner. In the meantime, she and Hugo's son Martin (Jean-Claude Adelin) fall in love for real. After Prudence goes back home, Martin comes for a visit -- with accidentally unhappy results for all concerned. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Andrzej Zulawski, Charlotte Rampling, (more)
- 1984
An aspiring young actress (Valerie Kaprisky) accepts a leading role in a film version of Dostoyevsky's The Possessed. Dissatisfied by her performance, the eccentric filmmaker (Francis Huster) begins a rigorous course of indoctrination, sexual domination, and acting lessons, leaving the mentally exhausted girl unable to distinguish between the real world and that of the film. Arty, challenging, and some say over the top, the film was honored with the Special Jury Award at the Montreal World Film Festival in 1984. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Francis Huster, Valérie Kaprisky, (more)
Usually misattributed to the horror genre, this challenging and highly unusual drama stars Isabelle Adjani as a young woman who forsakes her husband (Sam Neill) and her lover (Heinz Bennent) for a bizarre, tentacled creature that she keeps in a run-down Berlin apartment. In the beginning, her husband knows nothing about the monster and sincerely believes that his wife is insane. He has her tailed by private detectives, whom she kills and feeds to the creature. Still unaware of what has happened, the husband contends with the reserved and inadvertently seductive presence of his wife's look-alike (also played by Adjani), a schoolteacher who frequently comes to tutor his son while his wife is away. Though tempted by her quiet goodness and beauty, he is still passionately in love with his wife and even after he finds out about the murders, he stays by her side and helps her conceal her crimes. Filmed amidst the oppressive backdrop of the Berlin Wall by the expatriate Polish director Andrzej Zulawski (who was unable to work in his homeland after too many clashes with the authorities), the picture is so relentlessly intense and so deliberately esoteric, that most viewers would find it too hard to connect with. Still its symbolism, its unbridled and flashy directorial style, and the tour de force performance by Isabelle Adjani earned this unique tale a cult following in Europe. The version originally released in the U.S. had 45 minutes chopped out; in this form, it is barely comprehensible and looks like a cheap, gory feast. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, (more)
- 1975
Freelance photographer Servais (Fabio Testi) meets luckless Nadine Chevalier (Romy Schneider) an aging, world-weary, would-be movie star who thus far has only been able to find work in cheap exploitation movies. Trying to win her affection, Servais borrows the money from his underworld employers to launch a theatrical production of Richard III starring Nadine as Lady Anne. Though cold and skeptical at first, Nadine gradually falls in love with Servais, and eventually finds herself torn between him and her husband Jacques (Jacques Dutronc), to whom she feels morally obligated. Set in a world of losers and futile talents, this dark and moody drama depicts love as the only source of salvation. Memorable performances and skillful direction make this film a powerful experience. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Romy Schneider, Fabio Testi, (more)
Though presumably dealing with the Prussian army's invasion of Poland in 1793, this ambitious and highly allegorical drama probably seemed too contemporary to Polish censorship back in 1972 , thus didn't get released until 1988. Young Polish nobleman Jakub (Leszek Teleszynski) is saved from imprisonment by a stranger. In return, the stranger wants to obtain a list of Jakub's fellow conspirators. As he follows his mysterious savior across the country, Jakub is affected by the overall chaos and moral corruption; he goes insane and becomes a mass murderer. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Leszek Teleszynski, Wojciech Pszoniak, (more)
- 1971
This highly influential award-winning film, set during the time of the Nazi occupation of Poland, is rich with multilayered apocalyptic imagery and symbolism. Even though the film won an award for best debut in Poland, distribution was halted there by the authorities, and the director was viewed with suspicion. His next film, Diabel was kept from release for 12 years, until 1988. The film begins as a young man narrowly escapes the massacre in which his family is annihilated. He makes his way into town where he is nearly captured, but another man wearing clothes similar to his own is taken in his stead. After taking refuge in the home of a pregnant young woman who closely resembles his dead wife, he helps her with the birth of her child. While working in a typhus center, as someone who is repeatedly infected with the disease in order to produce vaccines for others, he experiences many hallucinations and does some bizarre things while seeking to come to grips with his traumatic life and the guilt he feels for being alive when all who knew him are dead. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Leszek Teleszynski, Malgorzata Braunek, (more)
- 1967
In 1912, Szczebieniew, a rich and ailing old man, comes to Italy with his young wife, Zinaida. Bored with his company, she looks for amusement and casual affairs. Szczebieniew is aware of it but he hopes that at least this way she can bear him an heir. However, he makes sure that she is always accompanied by Emelianow, Szczebieniew's servant and confidant. One day, in a movie theater Zinaida meets Ernesto Fosca, a young Italian violinist. She asks him to give her music lessons. She doesn't conceal her affection for him and they end up spending a night together. In the morning, though, Emelianow tells Ernesto that it was all planned. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- 1967
One day Mucjusz and his friend Malaj visit the mansion of Fabiusz, an old time friend of Mucjusz. Their sudden arrival makes Fabiusz anxious because years ago Mucjusz was in love with his beautiful wife Waleria. The visitor, however, assures Fabiusz that during his wanderings he has met many other women and has forgotten his old flame. The master of the house offers for him to stay in the garden pavilion. At the party in their honor, while Mucjusz distributes gifts to everyone present, Malaj plays the charming "Song of Love." It's rumored that those who are in love can do unusual things while listening to this melody at night. To prove it Mucjusz pierces his chest with a stiletto and takes it out without a sign of pain. At night Waleria wakes up to the sounds of the charming song coming from the outside and goes to the pavilion. In their conversation Mucjusz confesses that he still loves her but he has leprosy. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- 1966
Originally running 234 minutes long and filmed in black-and-white CinemaScope, Popioly is Andrzej Wajda's Western-style war epic. The screenplay is based on the novel Popioly by Stefan Zeromski and adapted by Aleksander Scibor-Rylski. Set in the early 19th century, the story concerns the Polish legion led by General Dombrowski (Daniel Olbrychski), who fought on the side of Napoleon Bonaparte (Janusz Zakrzenski). The original running time was cut down to 160 minutes for international release. Popioly was shown in competition at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Daniel Olbrychski
- 1962
Several internationally known directors contributed to this generally adept and compelling series of five brief vignettes on love and its many ramifications. François Truffaut starts things off with a story of innocent love between a young man in his mid-teens and a slightly older woman. Renzo Rossellini continues in sketch two about a tough mistress who keeps her lover on a short tether. Shintaro Ishihara renders the only violent episode -- that of a disturbed young worker who becomes a real lady-killer. Marcel Ophüls (son of the late and great Max Ophüls) directs an upbeat tale about a journalist who accepts the responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood when a brief fling with a woman ends in a pregnancy. The last vignette, directed by the well-known Polish helmer Andrzej Wajda, is about a brave act by a young soldier whose deed gains him the admiration of a woman, but the response from other men his age is something different. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Léaud, Marie-France Pisier, (more)
Sampson is one of several Andrzej Wajda films harking back to his youth during the Nazi Occupation of Poland. Many of these concern not only the struggle between good and evil, but also between passive and impassive. The hero is a Jewish youth. He, like his family, has always been silent and undemonstrative in the face of prejudice. Now he stands up for his right to survive, and in so doing represents the fighting spirit that culminated in the 1943 Warsaw Uprising. It was originally titled Samson, but re-spelled as Sampson upon its American release to avoid confusion with a sword-and-sandal epic of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Serge Merlin, Alina Janowska, (more)
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