Known for Acting
In this mixture of fiction and documentary Krzysztof Zanussi invites a number of Poland’s great actors—Maja Komorowowska, Daniel Olbrychski, and Jan Nowicki—to "revisit" characters they played in the director's earlier works.
Francis Ratay witnesses the theft of church painting "Angel with violin". The entire incident recorded by an amateur camera. The thief turns out to Benedict Weber, gallery owner and art connoisseur. Francis comes to his gallery. Blackmails him, that will provide police record, unless the image in three days back in place.
A Polish ambassador finds his life falling into ruin following the death of his wife.
An examination of the relationship between an indecisive medical student and his fiancee.
Pawel Markowicz suffers from Stendhal syndrome and it is to Dr.Giordano that he tells his secret.
Tomasz, a doctor, and atheist, is diagnosed with cancer. His ex-wife offers him the money for treatment in Paris, but his lung cancer is past the operating stage. Facing imminent death, he questions the beliefs he has held all his life and starts experimenting with both his own life and those of others.
The protagonists of the film are three brothers: Eino, Aho and Laje. The brothers live from the cultivation of the family land. Eino works from dawn to night. Aho likes to spend time playing at a nearby inn. Laje once helps Eino, and once accompanies Aho. Once Aho gets cheated by playing dice and losing his family land. The brothers set off in search of a job. They reach a road fork. Eino wants to go left, Aho to the right, and Laje agrees once with one, once with the other brother. The brothers, unable to convince each other for their reasons, start a great quarrel.
The famous play by Sławomir Mrożek, directed by Maciej Englert. A 1999 production.
Alex is a young boy who grew up without the warmth of a family home. He is lonely and lacks money. He is in love with his college friend, Maja, without reciprocity. However, the girl decided to get involved with a wealthy man from the criminal world. Meanwhile, as part of his student internship, Alex takes care of a former employee of the Security Office, Franciszek Kozar. The elderly and sick man suffers greatly. His only desire is euthanasia. For some time, Kozar has been persuading his guardian to help him commit suicide for a few thousand dollars. Finally, Alex agrees. His financial situation improves significantly. With the money he earns, he rents a luxury apartment and changes his lifestyle. From then on, he decides to provide services to people who want to end their lives but are unable to do it themselves...
The brothers Ubi and Obi live in Lailonia in the city of Ruru. The authority over the city is held by the god Maior. The basic law of the god Maior is that everything for humans is at the bottom, what for the god is at the top. The brothers live according to the laws established by the god Maior, until Obi rebels against them. Soon the brothers separate and Obi dies. For breaking his laws, the god Maior sentences Obi to stay in hell. Ubi also dies, and since he always obeyed the god's laws, he goes to heaven. The brothers are separated even after death. Ubi is not happy in heaven and wants to go to hell. The god Maior, however, does not agree. A revolt breaks out in heaven. God Maior abdicates. From now on, the living and deceased residents of the city of Ruru have to fend for themselves.
A young raspberry ice cream vendor named Gyom lives with his wife Mek-Mek in Lailonia, in the city of Batum. Since he believes that only older men can get good jobs in Lailonia, he decides to change his appearance. He grows a beard and a mustache, but it turns out that this is not enough to be considered an old gentleman. So he buys a bowler hat, glasses, an umbrella and wellingtons. He becomes an old gentleman and thanks to this he gets a job in a hotel as a "removalist" of flowers from vases.