Cycle index

Behind the Wall

dir. Krzysztof Zanussi / Poland 1971 / 56’

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

Maja Komorowska, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Eugenia Herman, Jadwiga Colonna-Walewska, Jan Kreczmar

Film description

The congenial duo of Komorowska and Zapasiewicz in a small flat brought tension which sparkles even now, after so many years. Jan - self-confident, exaggeratingly polite associate professor, cool, orderly, organised, absolutely devoted to his work in a laboratory and successful in his work. Marta - a chemist, like him, but an unsuccessful one, oversensitive, she paints mediocre copies of famous pictures in her spare time. They are both lonely, but they cope differently with the loneliness. They live in the same block of flats, almost behind the wall. For Jan their encounter is a forced politeness and for Marta - a desperate search for closeness.

The irony of Behind the Wall lies in the fact that at the beginning the viewer sides rather with the scientist and not his neurotic neighbour and the roles turn in the final scenes. This low-key TV film is an artistic masterpiece. It was enthusiastically received by a wide audience. After it was screened, industry magazines and television headquarters were flooded with letters from disturbed viewers. At the viewers' request there was even a TV debate of scientists based on Zanussi's film.

Mirella Napolska