Joanna (2010)

During the Occupation, a young woman whose husband disappeared during the war decides to hide a little Jewish girl. To save the child, she gets into a romance with a German.

Director:

Feliks Falk

Writer:

Feliks Falk

Stars:

Urszula Grabowska, Sara Knothe, Stanislawa Celinska

6 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Urszula Grabowska	...	Joanna Kurska
Sara Knothe	...	Róza
Stanislawa Celinska	...	Kaminska
Kinga Preis	...	Staszka Kopec
Halina Labonarska	...	Joanna's mother
Izabela Kuna	...	Ewa
Monika Kwiatkowska	...	Marta
Joachim Paul Assböck	...	Major
Mieczyslaw Grabka	...	Post's manager
Stanislaw Penksyk	...	Post's guard
Joanna Gryga	...	Róza's mother
Leszek Piskorz	...	Joanna's father
Arkadiusz Brykalski
Remigiusz Jankowski
Ryszard Barycz

Storyline

The main character Joanna (Urszula Grabowska), waiting in vain for a letter from her husband who is in an Oflag, gives shelter to a little Jewish girl whose mother was caught during a round-up. Thus she becomes burdened with a secret she cannot reveal to anyone, even to her relatives. Joanna knows that she cannot keep Rose with her as she is already under observation, but she fails to find a hiding spot for Rose and is forced to become the lover of a German officer in return for protection. Forced by necessity, she has to cooperate with her enemies, becoming a traitor in the eyes of "her people". The final, symbolic image is suggestive - in a tearful and religious manner - of the fact that sheltering little Roza was Joanna's personal torture referring to Golgotha. However, the deeper meaning of that story is perverse and bitter: hiding the child was even more dangerous because of Joanna's "own people", mutually controlling the patriotic decency.

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Plot Keywords:

misunderstanding | humiliation | sacrifice | traitor | wife longs for husband | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish French German

Release Date:

26 November 2010 (Poland)

Filming Locations:

Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland

Company Credits

Production Co:

ITI Cinema

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Just shy of perfection.

Overall a good story. Well directed, with great cinematography, cinematography with subdued mood, one that's not detracting from the picture but enriching it.

In few instances however (especially in the opening scenes) the director rushed too much info at the viewer, trying to explain the circumstances, trying to get the story rolling. Instead - the viewer would have been better served having to wait (to delay) the discovery of the few pertaining details that wove to create the story.

After the movie we've met with the director who, despite his broken English, vigorously defended, what most people found to be a gloomy, uninspiring ending. In his own words he viewed it as "open ended ending".