director Ryszard Ber
screenplay (based on her own novel of the same name) Maria Kuncewiczowa
director of photography Jerzy Stawicki
music ARRANGED BY Anna Iżykowska-Mironowicz
with Ewa Wiśniewska, Joanna Szczepkowska, Andrzej Precigs, Jerzy Kamas
awards
Jury Special Prize for the film and Individual Prize, Bronze Lions for Ewa Wiśniewska (Best Actress) at the 11th Polish Film Festival in Gdańsk, 1986
three awards of the head of the Polish Film Council for Maria Kuncewiczowa, Ewa Wiśniewska and Ryszard Ber for special film achievements in feature films, 1986
MARIA KUNCEWICZOWA, CUDZOZIEMKA, 1936
Róża approached him and touched his shoulder. ‘Adam, please forgive me. My heart breaks when I think about your life. But try to think about mine. You say, ‘I wasn’t able to hate.’ Think how lucky you are. Have you ever thought how hard it was for me to live with my hate? You are so good and understanding. So why didn’t you save me, the stupid one? Why were you afraid of me?’ He answered in a senile mournful voice: ‘How could I have saved you from yourself?’ She said nothing but sobbed.
RAFAŁ MARSZAŁEK, NOCE I DNIE CUDZOZIEMKI, ‘KINO’, 1986, NR 12
The film version of ‘The Stranger’ might be called autothematic. Maria Kuncewiczowa’s greatest work was filmed fifty years after the publication of the book. Ryszard Ber made his first significant movie at a mature age. (…) ‘The Stranger’ is an ideal adaptation of the novel. The density of the film comes from the problem that it tackles, not from the plot. The picture has an intense internal rhythm, is homogeneous in tone and offers subtle psychological shades. (…) Can one talk of humanity in excess? Wiśniewska is great in her role – she does not define Róża as a malevolent person; instead she brings you closer to a broken Rosa, a rose with thorns, whose hand, when shaken, ‘felt like a dead, yet burning, object.’
history periods
