A young provincial man comes to the capital to study physics and must tackle life’s universal questions. The film chronicles a decade in his life, during which his absolute faith in the primacy of rationality and science is shaken by tragedy and affairs of the heart.

Krzysztof Zanussi brings his sharpened poetic sensibility to the postwar generation of Poles struggling to bring purpose to their lives under Communism. The promises and struggles of love and physics set this kinetic and impressionistic film on a tailspin. Winner of Locarno’s Golden Leopard.