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Premiere of Man of Marble

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Man of Marble as a political film
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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We made the film in a great hurry but very happily and with a lot of energy because that's what a political film demands. The Shadow Line, well, there were times of reflection there whereas a political film has to impose itself on the audience. To impose itself on the audience, the film's director needs to give much more energy as must the actors who surround him. A political film has to be acted fast, it has to be immediate, loud and expressive. I think that Man of Marble possessed all of these elements. Everything was going well up to the moment when we had to screen this film. Who did I need to show it to? I knew that the Minister of Cinematography didn't have much to say here. Since permission to make this film had come from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture, Józef Tejchma, I realised that he should be the first to see this film. And so we arranged that no one else only he and I would watch this film because I knew that the film's fate didn't depend on me but on him. I had no other allies, there was no one else whom I could ask for help. He saw this film and as he wrote in his memoires, he feared what would happen next because, essentially, he would be held responsible. I have to say that, without going into any details of what happened, his decision cost him his career. The paradox was that nothing happened to me. I could have always gone abroad and made films there, but he couldn't be a Deputy Prime Minister abroad. I could also have become a national hero, my film - a legend, no one would have known what was in the film since no one would have seen it. The film would have been stored somewhere, a marvellous film and I would have been the wronged film director. I still had all of this to come whereas he had nothing more to look forward to. I understand that he might have thought that his comrades would support him, some circle. There had been some hope as the film was being made. Its message was that there were those who had once built Poland alongside the hero-workers, and were still building it. Perhaps it was going to be some sort of legend, but no one had imagined that this film would expose the system itself. How was it that Józef Tejchma had decided... it was his suicidal decision. He did try to protect himself but that was an even worse idea and the outcome was even worse than anyone could have supposed. Namely, the cinema authorities advised that the film should only be shown in one cinema. Well, a film that was being written about, talked about, a film with my name on it, a film about the Fifties, a Polish film in just one cinema - nothing worse could have been dreamed up because it was obvious that the cinema would be beseiged by hoardes of people.

Film robiliśmy w wielkim pośpiechu i z wielką radością i bardzo, że tak powiem, energicznie, no bo film polityczny tego wymaga. Smuga cienia, no to taka refleksja jakaś nas nachodziła czasem, natomiast film polityczny musi narzucić się widzowi. Żeby się mógł narzucić widzowi, reżyser musi wydać z siebie znacznie więcej energii i ci, którzy go otaczają i aktorzy. Film polityczny musi być grany szybko, musi być gwałtowny, musi być głośny, wyrazisty. Myślę, że wszystkie te elementy miał w sobie film Człowiek z marmuru. No i wszystko szło ku dobremu do momentu, kiedy mnie przyszło pokazać ten film. No komu miałem pokazać ten film? Wiedziałem, że tutaj minister kinematografii niewiele ma do powiedzenia. Ponieważ przyzwolenie na realizację tego filmu przyszło od wicepremiera i ministra kultury Józefa Tejchmy, więc rozumiałem, że on pierwszy ma ten film obejrzeć. I zrobiliśmy tak, żeby nikogo nie było, tylko my we dwóch, żebyśmy obejrzeli ten film, bo rozumiałem, że przecież dalsze losy już nie zależą ode mnie, tylko zależą od niego. Nie miałem żadnych innych sojuszników, nie mogłem nikogo wezwać tutaj na pomoc.

On ten film obejrzał i, jak napisał w swoich pamiętnikach, przestraszył się dosyć tego, co teraz się stanie, no bo w końcu wszystko spadło na niego. I muszę powiedzieć, że nie wchodząc w szczegóły, jak to się odbyło, muszę powiedzieć, że jego decyzja kosztowała jego karierę. I paradoks polegał właśnie na tym, że mnie się z kolei nic nie stało. No bo ja zawsze jeszcze mogłem pojechać robić film za granicą, a on za granicą nie mógł być wicepremierem. Ja jeszcze mogłem znaleźć się w sytuacji bohatera narodowego – film mój, legenda, bo to nie wiadomo co w tym filmie jest, bo nikt go nie widział. W związku z tym gdzieś leży na półkach jakiś wspaniały film, ja jestem skrzywdzonym reżyserem. To wszystko jeszcze było przede mną, natomiast przed nim już nie było nic. Rozumiem, że on myślał o tym, że może go towarzysze wesprą, jakiś krąg, w końcu była jakaś nadzieja pewnie jak ten film powstawał, że będzie to film, który mówi o tym, że teraz wkraczają w życie ci, którzy kiedyś, że tak powiem, razem z tymi przodownikami pracy budowali Polskę i budują ją dalej. Że to będzie jakaś legenda właśnie, no ale nikt nie przypuszczał – nikt – że ten film jakby obnaży sam system. Jak to się stało, że Józef Tejchma zdecydował się, to była po prostu jego samobójcza decyzja. No próbował co prawda zabezpieczyć się, no ale to się stało... był jeszcze gorszy pomysł, jeszcze gorzej się stało, niż można się było spodziewać. Mianowicie władze kinematografii myślę doradziły, żeby film pokazać w jednym kinie. No, film, o którym się pisało, o którym się mówiło, film z moim nazwiskiem, film na temat lat pięćdziesiątych, polski film w jednym kinie – no nic gorszego nie można było wymyślić, bo było wiadomo, że to kino będzie po prostu oblężone przez tłumy.

Polish film director Andrzej Wajda (1926-2016) was a towering presence in Polish cinema for six decades. His films, showing the horror of the German occupation of Poland, won awards at Cannes and established his reputation as both story-teller and commentator on Poland's turbulent history. As well as his impressive career in TV and film, he also served on the national Senate from 1989-91.

Listeners: Jacek Petrycki

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Tags: The Shadow Line, Man of Marble, Józef Tejchma

Duration: 3 minutes, 54 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008