At first glance, this film appears to be a political thriller, albeit one without bloodshed, with the interests of a Polish and Russian diplomat, former allies from communist times, clashing over a military acquisition deal. A second glance reveals it to be more of a personal drama: the undoing of an ageing and widowed diplomat amongst the little conspiracies of a shifting world and his realisation of how both times and interests are changing. And perhaps the nature of morality is changing... as well. Nevertheless, there is also a third, hidden strand. Krzysztof Zanussi's 2005 film tells the story of the survivors of the régime change of a decade and a half earlier: survivors in the sense that those who in power before the fall of the Iron Curtain continued to live, work and exercise their functions afterwards as well. After all, no matter how spectacular the about-face was, there could never be a tabula rasa. The stories and human relationships continue on, in their own fashion. And from time to time, the past pops up. The disaffected diplomat is portrayed by the superb Zbigniew Zapasiewicz in his final film appearance. Sharing the screen with him is Russian film actor and director Nikita Mikhalkov, who also co-produced the film. The two make for a formidable pair: two men with a common past and memories they've shared and those they haven't. In a relationship that has been tossed together and torn apart by the winds of history, it is diabolically difficult to tell what is real and what is simply a facade. As he did in Camouflage, Zanussi refuses to shrink from a moral investigation with no ultimate truth. Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease - as the title of another of his films puts it.
This series has been made possible with the cooperation of the Polish Institute in Budapest.
Presented by: Müpa Budapest
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