director Andrzej Munk
screenplay (based on own story titled, ‘The Six Embodiments of Jan Piszczyk’) Jerzy Stefan Stawiński
director of photography Jerzy Lipman, Krzysztof Winiewicz
music Jan Krenz
with Bogumił Kobiela, Maria Ciesielska, Kazimierz Opaliński, Barbara Kwiatkowska, Jerzy Pichelski, Aleksander Dzwonkowski, Edward Dziewoński, Tadeusz Janczar, Adam Pawlikowski, Roman Polański, Roman Kłosowski, Henryk Bąk, Wojciech Siemion, Andrzej Munk, Mariusz Dmochowski, Wiesław Gołas
awards
Honorary Commendation at the International Film Festival in Edinburgh, 1960
Honorary Commendation at the Festival of Festivals in London, 1960
Warsaw Mermaid (Syrenka Warszawska) – Film Critics' Club SDP Award, 1960
[SCENE FROM THE FILM]
Piszczyk (off): Shouts of pro-government demonstrators: ‘Long live Marshal Śmigły-Rydz!, ‘Chief, lead us to Kowno!’. In my state of mind I couldn’t care less about all that. My thoughts were focused on Jola. That day was to become a Rubicon for me, a passage into a mature life. I wanted to get rid of that banner (‘To Kowno!’) quickly and flee. Suddenly I realised I was no longer marching at the end of the procession, but in its centre. I had no idea that our organisation had so many followers. Gradually, I became swept over with the enthusiasm of that crowd, although I didn’t really care about Kowno. I felt in me the power of a collectivity (shouts: On Kowno!). Shouts from the back: ONR fights, {ONR = National Radical Camp}, ONR is on guard, ONR will give Poland a new start! Jews to Madagascar! It turned out that those new colleagues were not members of our union. I was at a loss what slogans to shout now. I worried that because of the shape of my nose they’d take me again for a Jew. That’s why I decided to shout the slogans in turns: one for those in front of me, one for those behind me. Piszczyk shouts: Chief, lead on! Jews to Madagascar! Long live Marshal Śmigły-Rydz! Down with Sanation! [Piłsudzki’s followers]
ALEKSANDER JACKIEWICZ, MY FILM LIBRARY. POLISH CINEMA [MOJA FILMOTEKA. KINO POLSKIE], WARSZAWA 1983
‘Bad Luck’, an anti-romantic tragicomedy ‘à rebours’, like Wajda’s ‘Lotna’ in the romantic perspective, brings the short history of the Polish School to an end. (…) Munk’s film was made on the basis of a novel by Stawiński called ‘The Six Incarnations of Jan Piszczyk’. It is a story of an opportunist trying to impersonate successively the myths of (pre-war) power status, legend of the armed struggle during the occupation, and after the war – of ‘organic’ work, and finally, the mythology built around the organisation of a socialist state. (…) Who was Piszczyk? It seems he must be perceived, despite everything, as a human being, an almost realistic figure. (…) On the one hand, a fool and a dupe, a funny character (…), on the other – an unhappy man, harassed throughout his life not only through his own faults.(…) Piszczyk is a guide through the history of Poland of the recent decades. When Poland is presented grotesquely – Piszczyk is grotesque, too, when Poland acquires a dramatic form – the hero also becomes dramatized.
history periods
