Time Of Betrayal

The film is based on Witold Zalewski’s stage play titled Cos za cos / Something for Something. An intimate drama set in the year 1516 somewhere in Tuscany. Niccolo Machiavelli, stripped of office, remains in exile awaiting his return to favor by the new duke. When this moment finally arrives, Machiavelli discovers himself to be the victim of a plot hatched by the duke.

The film is in fact a political treatise that seems timeless in character. This is emphasised by the fact that although the film takes place in 1516 in Tuscany, there are scattered contemporary signs: chewing gum, a bicycle, the modern elements of costumes. The film shows that the policy dilemmas and the moral principles described for the first time so openly by Machiavelli, have not lost any of their relevance.