Jerzy Stuhr
Diagnosed as an autistic child, Grzegorz lives in his own, hermetic world not being able to connect with others. When he is a teenager, it turns out that the cause of Grzegorz’s isolation is not autism but a deep hearing impairment, underneath which a great musical talent has been hidden for years.
Threatened by creditors, a newly unemployed man agrees to work for a debt collector, but soon discovers his deal with the devil has unexpected costs.
Polish Legends about courage, strength, ambition, empathy, cleverness, pride. About Us.
An attempt at depicting the life of a generation born and raised in communist Poland; a generation that lived through all the stages of that system and made it to democracy. Throughout his life, the film's protagonist has always tried to be active, but something always got in his way, either through an absurd coincidence, as a result of his own lack of ability, or due to the unpredictable nature of certain events in our recent history.
The newly elected Pope suffers a panic attack just as he is about to greet the faithful who have gathered to see him. His advisors, unable to convince him he is the right man for the job, call on a renowned therapist who also happens to be an atheist. But the Pope's fear of his newfound responsibility is one he must face alone. Winner Best Film at the Italian Golden Globes.
An anthology film following different stories around the theme of invisibility in the modern world.
Mary is a young girl, daughter of shepherds, promised in marriage to Joseph, a widower with two children, living in the nearby village of Nazareth, in the Galilee of two thousand years ago. Grown up in love and respect for the little ones, Mary, after leaving her home, soon sees the distortions of the patriarchal world surrounding her, starting with her husband's family. Here he reads the oldest brother of Joseph, Mordecai. The sunny and determined attitude of the girl, protective of children, arouses the indignation of the head of the family and those who are convinced of the need to give them punishment, discipline and submission.
Lazowski, an expelled university student, investigates the supposed suicide of the famous artist Witkacy and tries to prove that the artist is in fact still alive.
A morality tale that starts from answering a mysterious passenger's mobile phone left on a train, and intertwines the lives of student Bartek, who leads an immoral life, and several strangers.
Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz directed this insightful TV documentary (2005) tracing the Polish filmmaker's career. Former classmates reminisce about Kieslowski's happy beginnings at the Lodz film school and how his dissatisfaction with some of his early documentaries prompted the dramatic work and stylistic experimentation that led to his monumental series of films The Decalogue (1989). Wim Wenders, Agnieszka Holland, and Juliette Binoche are among the many admirers weighing in on his hard-driving work methods and preoccupation with the ephemeral. In Polish, French, and German with subtitles.
A Polish ambassador (Zbigniew Zapasiewicz) finds his life falling into ruin following the death of his wife.
A man, after having abandoned his family to live in a monastery, goes back into the world after 17 years.
The plot is set in modern Moscow, in the 1990s, with "New Russians", Hummer H1 SUVs, bribery, violence, truck fulls of tinned stew as a dowry, etc.
Left behind by a circus, a camel wanders to the house of a simple middle-aged couple in a Polish village. Although the wife is initially bewildered by the strange and unexpected animal, her husband immediately adopts it as a pet.
The apparently quiet lives of four milanese bourgeois couples become intertwined
Jerzy Stuhr wrote, directed, and starred in this drama about a man sworn to uphold the law who applies a very different moral code to himself than he does to others. As Adam Borowski, Stuhr plays a government lawyer prosecuting a variety of cases, including smuggling, theft, child abandonment, and racially motivated assault. However, Adam's own life is hardly a model by which to live. He's overextended himself financially and is trying to figure out how to avoid paying the hospital bills for his terminally ill mother. Adam is married, but he's been having an affair for some time, and, while he breaks off his relationship with his mistress, he's easily tempted into other liaisons. His wife wants to adopt a handicapped child; Adam would prefer not to have another child in the house, and he uses his influence to slow up the paperwork. And in order to reduce his tax bill, Adam has involved himself in a charitable donation scheme of dubious legality.
Jurek Kiler (see the prequel to this movie, "Kiler") has become a VIP - sponsoring the Polish government, playing tennis with the President, and stuff. He must oversee a transfer of a substantial amount of gold. However, in his past activities, he has made enemies. Mighty ones. And thus Jurek Kiler's next adventure begins as he has to face attempts at kidnapping, assassinations, and problems in his love life...
Jerzy Stuhr scripted, directed and plays four roles in this Polish comedy about four men -- an army officer, a college instructor, a priest, and a drug dealer -- and their relationships with four females. An attractive student (Dominika Ostalowska) puts the teacher in an awkward spot when she reveals her love for him. An 11-year-old (Karolina Ostrozna) informs the priest that she's his daughter. The army officer is pleased when confronted by a past lover (Irina Alfiorowa). The drug dealer, taken prisoner, must decide whether or not to trust his wife (Katarzyna Figura) with his hidden loot. In the wrap-up, the elderly accountant (Jerzy Nowak) passes judgment on all four men. Stuhr acted in films by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski, who had some input here by offering advice to Stuhr on this screenplay. Shown at the 1997 Venice Film Festival, this film is also known as Love Stories.
Barbara leads a stable life, is fulfilled professionally and has a loving family. Her foster daughter Alicja, who learns that she is adopted, decides to find her biological mother. When Alicja finds the real mother, the life of the main characters changes, and the positive relationships that linked them become blurred.
Jerzy Stuhr Poland s most beloved actor wrote and directed this charming comedy that caters to his image as an innocent caught in a cynical world. Stuhr stars as Gustav, a Krakow professor who is roped into showing a visiting Swedish professor around town. The randy Swede soon tires of Gustav s dull dissertations on Polish heroes and suggests looking for female companionship, but the task proves beyond the skills of the shy academic. Eventually, Gustav calls Isa, an old girlfriend from his distant past who was writing a dissertation on the mating habits of geese the last time they spoke. While Isa is not what the Swede had in mind, Gustav sees his old flame through the rose-colored glasses of time.
Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikolah to smuggle him back to their homeland.
A parliament member's sixteen year old daughter Agatha falls in love and runs away with a convicted young tramp, while her father uses his friends in the government and police to brutally break their happiness.
The story of catholic saint Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941), who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz.
The Prohibition years. Chicago bootleggers suffer losses due to their betrayal by one Mick Nich - Mikita Nichiporuk. The mob decides to execute the traitor, who escaped to Odessa, USSR, and organized his own bootleg business there. The hitman, Pollack, arrives in Odessa, and realizes how hard it is to make the hit here, as compared to a civilized country like USA.
Jerzy and Artur’s father dies, leaving behind a valuable stamp collection, which, they discover, is coveted by dealers of varying degrees of shadiness. The more involved the brothers get in their father’s world, the more dire and comical their situation becomes.
Originally made for Polish television, “The Decalogue” focuses on the residents of a housing complex in late-Communist Poland, whose lives become subtly intertwined as they face emotional dilemmas that are at once deeply personal and universally human. Its ten hour-long films, drawing from the Ten Commandments for thematic inspiration and an overarching structure, grapple deftly with complex moral and existential questions concerning life, death, love, hate, truth, and the passage of time.
Zbigniew Gasior, a thirty year old singer, is a youth idol. Despite fame, money and success with the ladys, he can't neglect the emptiness in his life. The shattered dreams of his friends are not really a help, to ease his existential pains.
A comedy. The story follows a young scientist in the contemporary world, who actually came from the world of dwarves, thanks to a magic potion, held by the Big Eater, ruler of the dwarves. The dwarf kingdom, Shuflandia, exists in a cellar of a library, and only the most obedient get the chance to grow to king size and inhabit the larger world. Once there, nobody wants to return to Shuflandia. Also, there are no women in Shuflandia.
Lavish romantic melodrama, obsessively concerned with sex. Maryska's husband is off to war. He soon is reported missing, and she does not protest much when is seduced by the husband's friend, a seedy professor with sickly wife and other mistresses on the side. However, the love of Maryska's life turns out to be a shy 17-year old, son of friends with whom she goes to stay.
Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.
A young woman is bitten by the acting bug after seeing Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot". She patterns herself after MM and after finishing high school goes for screen tests to the Film Academy. Rejected because of her crooked teeth she takes a job of selling beer on a train and starts writing to Billy Wilder, trying to be casted in his next movie. At the trains station she meets a would-be cinematographer who is color blind. They become friends sharing their dreams of going to Hollywood. One day she finds a goldfish trapped in a beer bottle: she sets her free and makes three wishes, not for herself but for her friends. To her surprise all of them come true. As a reward she gets a long awaited call from Billy Wilder. Written by Polish Cinema Database
Made in 1982, shelved for five years. Story opens with Lucja Krol's husband under the tram. She gives birth to her fourth son on the floor of their new apartment. Neighbor Wiktor, a communist intellectual, befriends the poverty-stricken family but is soon arrested and sent to jail. During the war Lucja narrowly escapes a Nazi roundup at the black market. Her sons hold ardent Communist meetings in their apartment, with her blessing. Lucja works hard, but without complaint. After the war, Klemens is inexplicably arrested, accused by the new regime of being a collaborator. Wiktor, now a high-ranking party member, trying to defend him, himself falls into disgrace. Klemens is tortured to "confess" and dies in jail, a Communist to the end. Lucja is never told about his fate.
In the 21st century, prisoners aboard penitentiary space ships explore unknown worlds. Scope, one of the prisoners is sent on a planet though to be lifeless, until he found "Humans" on it.
Set in an underground dungeon inhabited by bundled, ragged human beings, after the nuclear holocaust. The story follows the wanderings of a hero through the situations of survival. People wait for the Ark to arrive and rescue them while their habitat falls apart.
Two scientists are chosen as guinea pigs for a time experiment: they are placed in hibernation and should be brought back to life after three years. In the meantime, however, the World War III breaks out and life have been wiped out of the surface of the Earth. When they wake up, it turns out that not only 50 years have passed but also that they are the only living specimens of the male sex in a new, underground society composed exclusively of women.
Film opens on December 18, 1999, just a few days before the dawn of the new century. A local reporter, Iron Idem, announces that the Martians have landed. Shortly after that his program loses its independence: he is given the script telling the crowds how to welcome the invaders.
This is psychological drama by Tomasz Zygadlo begins as a straightforward story. Jan (Roman Wilhelmi) is the host of a nightly talk show in which he counsels people who call in with their problems. He is dedicated to helping these lonely souls but becomes increasingly disturbed when his co-workers and supervisors at the radio station do not appreciate his program; they seem unable to grasp the importance of what he is doing. Aside from that, Jan's private life is frayed around the edges. His wife is a heavy drinker and his mistress has no comprehension about who he is or what he is doing. Jan's frustration over this lack of recognition builds to an explosive level, threatening to upset the balance of his daily life.
A young man in his twenties leaves prison after a three-year sentence. He wants to start a new life in a place where he is not known and dreams only of a job, a wife and a family. He succeeds partially in fulfilling these dreams, but then runs into a conflict on a construction job between the corrupt boss and fellow workers secretly planning a strike. He becomes a pawn in one camp while remaining true to his ideals in the other. Filmed in 1976 and shelved for five years.
Jerzy Stuhr plays a high school teacher with a sensitive outlook on life and a soft spot for students who like art and literature as passionately as he does. His adversary is a possessed sports instructor, gaining growing control over the students and authorities. His methods are questionable and his influence dangerous, but the handball team's prospects look good and the school needs success...
Filip buys an 8mm movie camera when his first child is born. Because it's the first camera in town, he's named official photographer by the local Party boss. His horizons widen when he is sent to regional film festivals with his first works but his focus on movie making also leads to domestic strife and philosophical dilemmas.
After discussions and dishonest negotiations, a decision is taken as to where a large new chemical factory is to be built and Bednarz, an honest Party man, is put in charge of the construction. He used to live in the small town where the factory is to be built, his wife used to be a Party activist there, and he has unpleasant memories of it. But he sets to the task in the belief that he will build a place where people will live and work well. His intentions and convictions, however, conflict with those of the townspeople who are primarily concerned with their short-term needs. Disillusioned, Bednarz gives up his post.
Based on a pre-war murder case of the Malisz couple. They end up committing a petty robbery and a sordid murder. He is an illustrator who is not used by a climbing architect. His folks don't like his wife and keeping both of them around as they float from one petty job to another. They finally try to rob a mailman of a bogus money order they have cooked up and end up killing an old, invalid couple with whom they have roomed.
