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The Constant Factor

Original title: Constans
  • 1980
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 27m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
1K
YOUR RATING
The Constant Factor (1980)
Drama

A young man is facing death of his mother. A petty corruption at his job leads to him being framed and robbed of his only desire to climb mountains in Himalayas, as his father did and where ... Read allA young man is facing death of his mother. A petty corruption at his job leads to him being framed and robbed of his only desire to climb mountains in Himalayas, as his father did and where he died.A young man is facing death of his mother. A petty corruption at his job leads to him being framed and robbed of his only desire to climb mountains in Himalayas, as his father did and where he died.

  • Director
    • Krzysztof Zanussi
  • Writer
    • Krzysztof Zanussi
  • Stars
    • Tadeusz Bradecki
    • Zofia Mrozowska
    • Malgorzata Zajaczkowska
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.1/10
    1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Krzysztof Zanussi
    • Writer
      • Krzysztof Zanussi
    • Stars
      • Tadeusz Bradecki
      • Zofia Mrozowska
      • Malgorzata Zajaczkowska
    • 5User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 1 nomination

    Photos12

    Tadeusz Bradecki in The Constant Factor (1980)
    Malgorzata Zajaczkowska in The Constant Factor (1980)
    Malgorzata Zajaczkowska in The Constant Factor (1980)
    Tadeusz Bradecki and Zofia Mrozowska in The Constant Factor (1980)
    Tadeusz Bradecki in The Constant Factor (1980)
    Zofia Mrozowska in The Constant Factor (1980)
    The Constant Factor (1980)
    Tadeusz Bradecki in The Constant Factor (1980)
    The Constant Factor (1980)
    The Constant Factor (1980)
    The Constant Factor (1980)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Tadeusz Bradecki
    Tadeusz Bradecki
    • Witold
    Zofia Mrozowska
    Zofia Mrozowska
    • Witold's Mother
    Malgorzata Zajaczkowska
    Malgorzata Zajaczkowska
    • Grazyna
    Cezary Morawski
    Cezary Morawski
    • Stefan
    Witold Pyrkosz
    Witold Pyrkosz
    • Mariusz
    Ewa Lejczak
    • Stefan's Wife
    Jan Jurewicz
    Jan Jurewicz
    • Zenek
    Juliusz Machulski
    Juliusz Machulski
    • Wladek
    Jacek Strzemzalski
    • Mate
    Edward Zebrowski
    Edward Zebrowski
    • Scientist
    Krystyna Bigelmajer
      Kazimierz Borowiec
      Kazimierz Borowiec
        L. Cichy
        K. Cielecki
        Lucjan Dytrych
        Lucjan Dytrych
          Wanda Elbinska-Robaczewska
            Monika Gozdzik
              Tadeusz Grabowski
                • Director
                  • Krzysztof Zanussi
                • Writer
                  • Krzysztof Zanussi
                • All cast & crew
                • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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                Storyline

                Edit

                User reviews5

                Review
                Review
                Featured review
                8/10
                Great example of the cinema of moral anxiety
                In Chen Kaige's great movie Yellow Earth / Huang tu di (1985), a Chinese soldier reaches a remote valley in search of folk songs to record for the edification of the Red Army. At a wedding feast he discusses with his host the spectacle of a poor minstrel singing for tips. The minstrel is lonely and past finding a wife. In the culture he lives in, if you are single after 30, you remain so. So he sings a bitter song, and because of this he earns no money, despite his manifest talent, because the people want to hear happy songs.

                So Krzysztof Zanussi's movie Constans, whilst excellent, probably comes off as a bitter song, one which film fans have therefore been chary of. It's the story of a young man, Witold, blessed with good looks, intelligence, a moral character, and a sense of wonder and enthusiasm, who is born into a living space, a zeitgeist, and a power structure, which degrades and humiliates him. One might say with some justification that the Second World War ended for Poland only in 1990, with the triumph of Solidarity and consequently the waning of Soviet influence. In 1980, Zanussi let loose this wail; by the following year Solidarity had formed. The Poles had had enough.

                It has always mattered the most to me if a film has a ring of truth to it, and so this one does. I was brought up by people espousing a moral system that receives broad lip service, but in practical terms is almost an irrelevance, with people acting only with enlightened self-interest. I suppose with a Catholic country under a communist regime you might get similarly schizophrenia-inducing conditions for people who pay heed to principle.

                As with Kieslowski, Zanussi was fascinated by fate and that comes through very clearly here. Kieslowski's movie of the following year, Blind Chance (1981) being equally as despondent. In the depths of the pessimism of Constans I was reminded of the Socratic concept of divine fatalism, the idea that good character is a divine boon and that we are the playthings of the gods. Witold's planned ascent of Himalayan peaks, is allegorical and for me harks back to the myth of Bellerophon, and his fate. Similarly none of the characters appear capable of persuasion or personality change.
                helpful•22
                3
                • oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx
                • Aug 26, 2012

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                Details

                Edit
                • Release date
                  • September 19, 1980 (Poland)
                • Country of origin
                  • Poland
                • Languages
                  • Polish
                  • English
                • Also known as
                  • Ein Mann bleibt sich treu
                • Filming locations
                  • Lódz Fabryczna Station, Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland(underground passage)
                • Production company
                  • Przedsiebiorstwo Realizacji Filmów "Zespoly Filmowe"
                • See more company credits at IMDbPro

                Technical specs

                Edit
                • Runtime
                  1 hour 27 minutes
                • Sound mix
                  • Mono
                • Aspect ratio
                  • 1.66 : 1

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