Jakub, a young lunatic imprisoned for conspiring against the king, is unexpectedly freed by a mysterious stranger. Together with an insane nun, Jakub sets out across a nightmarish snow-bound landscape teeming with senseless violence. Returning home, he finds that his fiancé has shacked up with his best friend, his father has committed suicide and his mother is a prostitute (whom Jakub nearly has sex with on at least two occasions). Meanwhile, the mysterious, perhaps supernatural stranger seems to be shadowing Jakub’s every move, as absolute chaos engulfs the land and the latter descends further into madness (fitting right in with the world around him!). He embarks on a gory killing spree, with the stranger always there to help out, at one point even placing the murder instrument, a straight razor, in Jakub’s hand. A violent showdown between the two is inevitable, leading to a gruesome ending and a totally out-of-left-field twist. —Fright.com
Andrzej Zulawski was born on the territory of what was then the U.S.S.R. in a Polish family with remarkable traditions in arts and literature. After World War II, his father’s diplomatic career brought the family to France (1945-1949), Czechoslovakia (1949-1952), and finally to Poland. He studied film direction at IDHEC in Paris (1957-1959) and philosophy at both Warsaw University (1961) and Université de Paris (1962-1964).
First, he assisted the famous Polish director Andrzej Wajda during the filming of Samson (1961), Popioly (1966), and the Warsaw episode of L’Amour à Vingt Ans (1962). In 1967, Zulawski directed two short films, Piesn Triumfujacej Milosci and Pavoncello, for Polish TV.
His feature debut, Trzecia Czesc Nocy (1971), as well as those previous films were co-scripted by his father, poet Miroslaw Zulawski. The picture was well received at the Venice Film Festival and awarded as the Best Debut in its homeland, but had only limited release due to Polish censorship… read more
A film made from Hieronymous Bosch and de Sade, because it recognises the co-dependence of savagery and lust in a cruel world without the walls of reason. Zulawski canny direction of crowd scenes and his use of handheld cameras really helps the film.
What an excellent parable presenting the nature of the beast. If the Devil is a Man than God is his imaginary friend.
My third Zulawski film, after On the Silver Globe and Possession. It cemented my intuition that the director of these mad strips of film will be a favorite of mine for years to come.
