Malgorzata Braunek Movies

The Big Night Bathe sets people who are drifting without a direction, tending to indulge their whims, against people who might -- but will probably not -- fall into the same pattern. Jeanne (Malgozata Braunek) and her ex-husband Willy (Youazas Boudraitis) head a group of profligates during a summer's vacation on the Black Sea coast. Several in the group are bored as a way of life and are close to intolerable to each other. Among them is the spoiled son of an important government official. Opposite in temperament, age, and character, is a pair formed by Sava, a young history student (Nikolar Sotirov) and Ninelle (Yanina Kasheva), his somewhat innocent friend. Before the events that were to mark the "big night bathe" in the minds of the protagonists forever, Sava has to suddenly return home to be with his dying mother. He is exempt from the group's folly, but Ninelle is not. After spending the afternoon in back-biting, the disparate members in the group eat crayfish on the beach, and then go for a midnight swim. It is just after the swim that the men are goaded into playing a macabre and dangerous game in which they stick their head in a noose while standing on a rock. When someone knocks the rock out from under them, they must cut the noose before it has a chance to tighten and either snap their neck or strangle them to death. One of the men does not make it. By the time the police have finished with their investigation, the death was deemed "an accident." Ninelle cannot tolerate the memory of what she has seen and leaves for Sava's village in order to unburden her grief. The reaction of the protagonists to the unnecessary death, and Ninelle's personal decisions, bring the issue of a "meaningless life" to the forefront. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Set during the 17th-century Polish-Swedish war and based on a novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz, Deluge follows the romance between a violent soldier and the young woman who tries to tame him. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

A young journalist and his wife take a vacation on an island off the coast of Yugoslavia. Fearing a revolution is probable, spies are directed by politicians to watch the hippies who have gathered there. The man joins up with the revolt but loses his wife over his political decision. He falls for a female spy who has been trailing him, but he is arrested and the revolutionaries go underground to plan their next move in this offbeat social commentary of freedom. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival, this comedy from Polish director Andrzej Wajda stars Zygmunt Malanowicz as Wlodek, a young man stuck in a dead-end job at the local library who lives with his harridan wife and critical in-laws in a small apartment. When Wlodek draws the interest of a library patron, the beautiful young woman encourages him to strive for better things in his life and professional career. Together, the two take off for a three-day affair, but surprises could await Wlodek upon his return home. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide