Przesluchanie (1989)

Tonia goes out drinking. She wakes up in prison, not having a clue why she's there. She is tortured to encourage her to confess to a crime she is not aware of.

Director:

Ryszard Bugajski

Writers:

Ryszard Bugajski, Janusz Dymek

Stars:

Krystyna Janda, Adam Ferency, Janusz Gajos

9 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Krystyna Janda	...	Antonina 'Tonia' Dziwisz
Adam Ferency	...	Lieutenant Morawski
Janusz Gajos	...	Major Zawada "Kapielowy"
Agnieszka Holland	...	Communist Witkowska
Anna Romantowska	...	Miroslawa "Mira" Szejnert
Bozena Dykiel	...	Honorata
Olgierd Lukaszewicz	...	Konstanty Dziwisz (Tonia's husband)
Tomasz Dedek	...	UB officer "Czesiek" arresting Tonia
Jan Jurewicz	...	Guard
Jaroslaw Kopaczewski	...	UB officer arresting Tonia
Zofia Balucka	...	Cell-mate
Arkadiusz Bazak	...	Officer at Name-Day Party
Krzysztof Gosztyla	...	Alledged victim
Antonina Girycz	...	Cell Top Dog
O. Jasinska

Storyline

Tonia goes out drinking. She wakes up in prison, not having a clue why she's there. She is tortured to encourage her to confess to a crime she is not aware of.

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Plot Keywords:

lesbian kiss | interrogation | inmate | humiliation | hose | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish

Release Date:

13 December 1989 (Poland)

Also Known As:

El interrogatorio

Filming Locations:

Poland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zespól Filmowy "X"

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Completed in 1982, but due to its controversial anti-communist themes, was banned by the Polish government (then under Stalinist rule) for 7 years until 1989 after the disintegration of the Soviet Bloc.

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Connections

Referenced in Lekcja polskiego kina (2002)

User Reviews

No question about the power of 'Interrogation'

Occasionally a film about which you know nothing comes along and knocks you down. This is even more remarkable when it is 30 years old. It is what in Poland they call a polkownik or 'shelf movie', that is to say a film that was so explosive it had to be put on a shelf and not shown. Bugajski made Interrogation/Przesluchanie in Poland in 1982 and finished principal photography a week before martial law was declared. He then buried the film, literally, in order to keep it from being destroyed. With the end of Polish Communism it resurfaced in 1989, being premiered in the UK in 1990, and was the official Polish entry at Cannes in 1990. The story is compelling: in 1951 a young woman, Tonia Dziwisz, is arrested when she is drunk, and thrown into prison where the UBeks, a major and Lieutenant Morawski, try to force her to spill the beans on Olcha, a war resistance hero she had slept with, in a way that would condemn him to death, regardless of whether what she said was true or false. But it is not just the story that compels, but the way it is made. Much of it is in close-up, a style I am normally wary of, but Bugajski uses it to convey the visceral nature of mental and physical torture. There are some medium shots in the film, and towards the end a long shot is used to convey how distant the outside world has become. But mostly we see the faces of both victims and torturers wrestling with inner demons. Is it true? Yes. It starts in Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon territory, and develops into a cat-and-mouse psychological thriller. I think fiction takes over here, but it only shows how fiction is more powerful and more true than fact. I never have nightmares, but this film gave me one. Highly recommended.