Rysopis (1964)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Jerzy Skolimowski

Writer:

Jerzy Skolimowski (writer)

Release Date:

26 February 1966 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama

Cast

Jerzy Skolimowski	...	Andrzej Leszczyc
Elzbieta Czyzewska	...	Theresa / Barbara / Housewife
Tadeusz Minc	...	Mundzek
Andrzej Zarnecki	...	Raymond
Jacek Szczek

Also Known As:

Identification Marks: None

Runtime:

Argentina:80 min | Sweden:76 min

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | Germany:12

Company:

Film Polski Film Agency

Movie Connections:

Followed by Walkower (1965)

Polish rebel without a cause

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Jerzy Skolimowski shows his characteristic interests and obsessions, a portrait of a superfluous man, a strange mixture of absurdism and surrealism with long, incredibly complex takes. It consists of part of Andrzej Leszczyc's day; his dog has been bitten by a rabid dog, his mistress is discontented, the conscription board have finally caught up with him and because he's dropped out of university he's going to do two years in the navy, leaving at three o'clock that afternoon. He wanders around town, takes his dog- he didn't bother to immunise it, which perhaps typifies his indifference and carelessness, even with what he loves- to be put down, meets another ex-student, then ardently political- official political, of course, mow a pimp and conman, meets a girl who wants to study ichthyology, the course Leszczyc only took to keep out of the army and that the one-armed chairman of the recruitment board cannot pronounce, seduces a woman set up by the ex-student, breaks up with his mistress and finally- just-in-time- gets the train with other conscripts. Along the way he tells lies pointlessly and compulsively. All the same, Leszczyc may be an immature creep but there are some good qualities to him which can't appear in this society. As you'd expect with Skolimowski, it isn't realistic. Either Elzbieta Czyzewska plays all the female parts, or they're all the same woman pretending without Leszczyc noticing- we can't tell. In the end she runs alongside the train that takes Leszczyc away looking up at it and the film ends. There are extraordinary shots- long tracking shots through the streets- one, towards the end, down six storeys of stairs, is astonishing, another as Leszczyc and the would-be ichthyologist walk through a timber plant where the camera accompanies them from one end to the other. Yes,they're cheap ways to shoot, but when it's as well done as this it's rather more. Not a great film, but an intelligent film that shows the director's talents superbly.