Cycle index

The Constant Factor

dir. Krzysztof Zanussi / Poland 1980 / 87’

subtitles: English

retrospective: Krzysztof Zanussi A Plane from Budapest, Anxiety, Attestation, Behind the Wall, Camouflage, Cement and Words, Face to Face, Family Life, Girl and Uhlan, Hipothesis, Holden, Illumination, Imperative, In Full Gallop, Inventory, Krzysztof Zanussi – Essential Conversations, Life As a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease, Long Conversation with a Bird, Mountains at Dusk, Persona non grata, Revisit, Spiral, Stop Thief, Students, The Balance, The Bluebeard, The Catamount Killing, The Constant Factor, The Contract, The Death of a Provincial, The Lady with the Ermine, The Lame Devil, The Power of Evil, The Role, The Roof, The Silent Touch, The Structure of Crystal, The Tram to Heaven, The Unapproachable, The Year of Quiet Sun, Time That Passed, Umbrella, Ways in the Night, Wherever You Are, With a Warm Heart, A Woman’s Business, Deceptive Charm Section index

Cast

Tadeusz Bradecki, Zofia Mrozowska, Małgorzata Zajączkowska, Cezary Morawski, Witold Pyrkosz, Ewa Lejczak, Jurewicz, Juliusz Machulski

Film description

This film represents the trend of the 'cinema of moral anxiety'. Its essay-like structure and particular references bring to mind the earlier The Illumination. Also the main character, Witek, is another example of the Zanussi-style character, an uncompromising maximalist, for whom remaining faithful to his convictions counts more than anything else. In The Illumination, Franciszek's goal was cognition; Witek's ambition lies mainly in achieving ethical perfection. He is fascinated by such phenomena as coincidence, fate and probability and yet he believes that if he doesn't betray the ethos he learned at home, he can control his life. Witek wants to improve the world by himself, but his uncompromising attitude irritates and discourages people instead of converting them. The world shown in The Constant Factor is depressing, full of dodgers, bribe-takers, and jealous conformists. There are hardly any honest people here. Mountains are a very important motif here (Witek's father was a mountaineer and died during an expedition and his son inherited his passion), and the film touches on the interesting thread of Witek's mother, on the issue of choosing suffering as a sacrifice.

Mirella Napolska