The Devil
Sat 28 FebDeemed unreleasable by the communist authorities in Poland upon its completion in 1972, The Devil remains one of the great films maudits of Polish cinema — even though it didn’t see the light of a projector before 1988.
A uniquely Polish spin on the Ken Russell-like frenzy, The Devil is set at a pivotal moment of 18th century history: the loss of Poland’s statehood and independence to neighbouring empires. Just as the state is failing and anarchy begins to reign supreme, the otherworldly Jakub traverses Polish woods and manors, playing a trickster to everyone he meets. He may be the titular demon, or perhaps simply a figure of a subversive artist bringing change and upheaval. Widely read as a metaphor of the 1968 anti-semitic purge of Poland, the film was deemed too hot to handle by the state and resulted in Żuławski’s emigration to Paris. Today, The Devil stands as one of Żuławski’s strongest achievements.
This film is part of the strand: Two Visions, One Nation: Wajda and Żuławski (Read more below)
Introduction
Screening preceded by a prerecorded introduction from season curator Michal Oleszczyk
Two Visions, One Nation: Wajda and Żuławski
Andrzej Wajda was Andrzej Żuławski’s senior by 14 years, and in terms of international festival prizes (Palme d’Or, Academy Award), he seems to be the more recognized of the two. And yet, Wajda’s filmography was regularly visited, interfered with — as well as downright haunted — by the presence of his brilliant student, assistant and (ultimately) creative opponent.
Żuławski’s initial fascination with Wajda was clear in his choice of a M.A. thesis he wrote on Kanal in 1959 at IDHEC film school in Paris. Later on, he assisted Wajda on the Polish segment of Love at Twenty (1962) and on the epic Ashes (1966). From 1970 on, Żuławski turns from protégé to rival, as his progressively more frenetic films challenge Wajda’s more classical approach.
This series aims at presenting a series of double-bills that highlight the myriad ways in which Wajda’s and Żuławski’s bodies of work not only co-exist in a lively dialogue with one another, but also joyfully meet, orgiastically merge and violently clash. While both artists were different in their career trajectories and personal choices, what unites them is a fervid engagement with the vortex of Polish history, eager exploration of class and ideological conflicts of the 20th century, as well as — last but not least — the transnational dimension of their work, with Żuławski traversing the Iron Curtain as a director of alternatively Polish and French films, and Wajda engaging in multiple co-productions, in which he tried to address international audience on its own turf.
This series, while far from exploring the complete set of connections between two filmographies, is an invitation to further comparisons and explorations.
Michał Oleszczyk, Season Curator
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