The Erlprince (2016)

The tale of an extraordinarily gifted young man and his ambitious and wondrous mother.

Director:

Kuba Czekaj

Writer:

Kuba Czekaj

Stars:

Stanislaw Cywka, Agnieszka Podsiadlik, Sebastian Lach

3 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Stanislaw Cywka	...	The Boy (as Staszek Cywka)
Agnieszka Podsiadlik	...	The Mother
Sebastian Lach	...	The Man
Bernhard Schütz	...	Professor
Boguslawa Jantos	...	Teacher
Emilia Stachurska	...	Pretty
James Fordham	...	Preacher of Universe
Anna Podolak	...	Newsgirl
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Katarzyna Afek	...	(voice)
Lukasz Borkowski	...	(voice)
Piotr Bukszta	...	Roo's father
Marek Dawid	...	(voice)
Wlodzimierz Dyla	...	Landscape Park employee
Michalina Fabijanska	...	(voice)
Piotr Gauczuk	...	Admirer

Storyline

An exceptionally gifted teenage boy is about to start studying physics at university. He is working on the theory of parallel worlds, which are linked, he initially believes, by light. He has an extraordinary mind and a wounded soul, which his mother, who steers his life, is incapable of healing.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish English German French

Release Date:

18 August 2017 (Poland)

Also Known As:

Der Erlprinz

Filming Locations:

Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stowarzyszenie Filmowcow Polskich, Dolnoslaski Konkurs Filmowy, Odra Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Worth watching once

Well, this is a dose of East European weirdness and no mistake!

A fourteen year-old Polish boy is a prodigy, already having several academic degrees to his name. His ambitious, single and at times drunken mother pushes him even harder: she wants him to win a Europe-wide academic competition. But the boy just wants to be a boy, especially when his long-last father reappears on the scene.

So far, so kitchen-sink drama. But then there's the singing doomsday preacher - not to mention the boy's visions: one of his father sharing a deer carcass with wolves whilst surrounded by humming pensioners; another featuring his mother and teacher mud-wrestling.

The viewer might just about pick his way through the storyline - despite its arty pretentiousness, it is at least linear - only to fall at the final hurdle when faced with two separate endings. Still, Agnieszka Podsiadlik and Staszek Cywka (as the mother and boy, respectively) are both engaging enough to carry the film. It was certainly worth watching once (I did so at the 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival), but I shall not bother to watch it again.