The Third Part of the Night (1971)
"Trzecia czesc nocy" (original title)

Set during the occupation of Poland during World War II. Some German soldiers, slaughter a woman, her son and daughter-in-law. The husband and his father escape by being in the forest. The ... See full summary »

Director:

Andrzej Zulawski

Writers:

Andrzej Zulawski, Miroslaw Zulawski

Stars:

Malgorzata Braunek, Leszek Teleszynski, Jan Nowicki

Cast

Credited cast:
Malgorzata Braunek	...	Marta
Leszek Teleszynski	...	Michal
Jan Nowicki	...	Jan
Jerzy Golinski	...	Michal's father
Anna Milewska	...	Sister Klara
Michal Grudzinski	...	Marian
Marek Walczewski	...	Rozenkranc
Hanna Stankówna
Alicja Jachiewicz	...	The Waitress
Leszek Dlugosz
Halina Czengery	...	Michal's Mother
Janina Ordezanka
Jadwiga Halina Gallowa
Grazyna Barszczewska
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ewa Ciepiela

Storyline

Set during the occupation of Poland during World War II. Some German soldiers, slaughter a woman, her son and daughter-in-law. The husband and his father escape by being in the forest. The young man decides to join the resistance but at the first meeting Gestapo kills his go-between and chase him. During his escape he gets into an apartment of a pregnant woman and helps her with the childbirth. He works in the typhus center where he is guinea pig for lice after being immunized to make more vaccine. He goes to the hospital to end a misery of a man mistaken by him and tortured where he seems to see his own body and is finally reconciled with himself.

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Plot Keywords:

chase | lice | shooting | staircase | doppelganger | 

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | War

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Details

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish

Release Date:

4 January 1972 (Poland)

Also Known As:

The Third Part of the Night

Company Credits

Production Co:

Polski State Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Synergia (2011)

User Reviews

Death and schizophrenia

Having seen two other movies by Zulawski, that forgotten artist, I'm starting to distinguish a style, some themes and his conception of human emotions. He doesn't care to develop a clear story, he has a way of surprising us continually through the exploitation of the characters which cover all the range of emotions. He can take any human and expose them to supernatural occurrences until they goes mad; they live in a constant nightmare. His actors occasionally go in a real trance and purge themselves of all emotions, crying and laughing simultaneously. It seems as if he is dissecting humans and beneath all that flesh and terror there lies a spirit, alone and in darkness.

Near the end someone cites the Apocalypse, and goes something like this: and then they will search for death and they won't find it. And that seems as the center point to the movies I've seen. In a way you can say he believes in an eternal return of the soul, but what he longs for is tranquility in death and so life to him is just a terrible passing, and so it is occasionally for many.

About the movie, well, it can be mistaken for some supernatural horror flick, some will be repelled by the style others will embrace it. But to me his movies are more of the overall experience and the way they linger in our subconscious as an infernal palace which we try to discredit and judge unreal, but which we inhabit.