33 Scenes from Life

33 sceny z zycia

Germany, Poland

2008

100 Min

Color

1.85:1

Polish, English, German

Currently 2.9/5 Stars.
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PROD Karl Baumgartner, Raimond Goebel

CAST Julia Jentsch, Peter Gantzler, Maciej Stuhr, Andrzej Hudziak, Malgorzata Hajewska, Izabela Kuna, Rafal Mackowiak, Renata Dancewicz, Roman Gancarczyk

SOUND Michal Dominowski

Locarno (International Competition): Special Jury Prize, Toronto (Contemporary World Cinema), Rotterdam (Spectrum)

Synopsis

Julia has everything that one can dream of. She has a great and warm home, she is a beloved daughter and wife and she is a successful artist-photographer. It’s fair to say that Julia is happy in her life. Suddenly, everything collapses. In one year her world changes completely, making Julia a different person.

It all starts with the death of the family dog. Then Julia’s mother gets sick – with cancer. Struggling with her mother’s illness and her preparations for the Biennale exhibition, Julia is left on her own. Her husband, a famous composer, is spending most of the time abroad, preparing the premiere of his new composition and her father seems to need help even more than she does.

Sickness and death from a close perspective are something different than what Julia expected – much more absurd, nonsensical and ridiculous. Having always been the little girl to her parents, she suddenly realizes that she is the strongest one. She is the one who must handle everything. Watching her mother dying becomes an absurd experience for Julia and her sister. The close proximity to death strips it of any pathos. And so, laughter becomes the only weapon to defend against total misery. And Julia has more than one reason to be miserable: Julia’s father, being unable to put up with the death of his wife, is drawn to alcohol. Her sister is unable to handle the situation. Julia finds she cannot count on them and her streak of artistic successes seem to be over.

Having nobody to turn to and overwhelmed with what is going on around her, Julia begins an affair with a good friend of the family, the most inappropriate person to have any kind of relationship with. And so, maybe for the first time in her life, Julia is not an observer, she doesn’t just experience certain things in her life, but she is confronted with a situation in which she has to make a decision on her own.

33 Scenes from Life is a film about the moment in life, when we as children change and become adults. It shows a time in life that everyone has to go through, because everyone has to grow up. Finally, it’s a story about stepping into the real world, where pain, suffering and doubts are inevitable. –TrustNordisk

Director

Małgorzata Szumowska

Małgorzata Szumowska (born 26 February 1973 in Cracow, Poland) – is a Polish director, screenwriter and producer. Szumowska is the daughter of journalists Maciej Szumowski and Dorota Terakowska and the sister of Wojciech Szumowski, a documentary film director.

Career

Szumowska spent two years studying History of Art at Jagiellonian University before she started film studies. Szumowska graduated from the celebrated film college in Łódź, which boasts such alumni as Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polański or Krzysztof Kieślowski. As a student, Szumowska made a short which was ranked 14th in the history of Łódź Film School Cisza (Silence) is a short documentary film in which Szumowska tried to capture a simple life of a Polish rural family.

Szczęśliwy człowiek (Happy man)

Szumowska graduated from the film college in 1998 and made her debut feature film Szczęśliwy człowiek (Happy Man) in 2001. The film was nominated to The European Film Award and Szumowska became a member… read more

Małgorzata Szumowska (born 26 February 1973 in Cracow, Poland) – is a Polish director, screenwriter and producer. Szumowska is the daughter of journalists Maciej Szumowski and Dorota Terakowska and the sister of Wojciech Szumowski, a documentary film director.

Career

Szumowska spent two years studying History of Art at Jagiellonian University before she started film studies. Szumowska graduated from the celebrated film college in Łódź, which boasts such alumni as Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polański or Krzysztof Kieślowski. As a student, Szumowska made a short which was ranked 14th in the history of Łódź Film School Cisza (Silence) is a short documentary film in which Szumowska tried to capture a simple life of a Polish rural family.

Szczęśliwy człowiek (Happy man)

Szumowska graduated from the film college in 1998 and made her debut feature film Szczęśliwy człowiek (Happy Man) in 2001. The film was nominated to The European Film Award and Szumowska became a member of the European Film Academy in the same year.The plot explores complicated relationships among three persons facing enormous difficulties who nonetheless strive to achieve happiness, or, at least, steer clear of tragedy.

Ono (Stranger)

Her next film, Ono (Stranger), focused on the relationship between a pregnant woman and the baby she is expecting. Having decided not to have an abortion, the mother tries to prepare her child for the experience of the outside world. Things get complicated when the woman faces health problems.

Ojciec (Father)

In 2005 Szumowska made a short film Ojciec (Father), one of thirteen contemporary stories written by Polish film directors to celebrate Solidarity which made up the film Solidarność, Solidarność (Solidarity, Solidarity). Based on her father’s experiences, Szumowska’s film uses archival footage from his documentaries.

33 sceny z życia (33 Scenes from Life)

A significant breakthrough in Szumowska’s career came in 2008, with 33 sceny z życia (33 Scenes from Life), starring Julia Jentsch, which won a special prize at the Locarno International Film Festival. Inspired by her own life, but, as she is careful to emphasize, “not autobiographical”, the film tells the story of Julia. A talented photographer married to Piotr, a successful composer, Julia has a perfect and financially comfortable life until one day the idyll is interrupted.

Elles

Szumowska worked also as a co-producer of Antichrist, Lars von Trier’s horror film released in 2009. In 2011, she completed her international project, Elles, starring Juliette Binoche. The worldwide première of Elles took place at Toronto International Film Festival.It tells the story of Anne, a Parisian journalist investigating prostitution among the students. Her research takes her to two girls, Charlotte and Alice, whose lives differ greatly from her own. They let her discover a world which she finds both repulsive and seductive.

Nowhere

Szumowska’s latest project has been in production since 2011. Szumowska has refused to reveal any plot details but she hopes that it will be her best film to date. Entitled Nowhere, the film is set in Mazury, a rural lake region in northeastern Poland.

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