''Le Gros et le maigre'' (English title: ''The Fat and the Lean'') is a short silent, comic film written and directed by

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...

in 1961. Polanski shot this short film just after graduating from The National Film School in Łódź in 1959; it was made in France and was Polanski's last film before the international breakthrough of his 1962 debut feature, ''

Knife in the Water ''Knife in the Water'' ( pl, Nóż w wodzie) is a 1962 Polish psychological thriller film co-written and directed by Roman Polanski in his feature debut, and starring Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, and Zygmunt Malanowicz. Its plot follows a husb ...

''. ''The Fat and the Lean'' features the music of

Krzysztof Komeda Krzysztof Trzciński (27 April 1931 – 23 April 1969), known professionally as Krzysztof Komeda, was a Polish film music composer and jazz pianist. Perhaps best known for his work in film scores, Komeda wrote the scores for Roman Polanski’s f ...

, who composed the scores for all but one of the director's films between ''

Two Men and a Wardrobe ''Two Men and a Wardrobe'' ( pl, Dwaj ludzie z szafą) (1958) is a short Polish black and white silent movie directed by Roman Polański. Plot The film features two men, played by Jakub Goldberg and Henryk Kluba, who emerge from the sea carr ...

'' (1958) and '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968). In ''The Fat and the Lean'', Polanski plays a barefoot slave playing a flute and beating a drum to entertain his master who rocks in a rocking chair in front of his mansion in the countryside overlooking

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. The slave wipes his master's brow, feeds him, washes his feet, shades him from the sun with an umbrella, and holds a urinal for him, all the while longing to escape to Paris, which we can see in the distance. A humorous psychological game between the master and the slave transpires whereby the master attempts to prevent the slave from escaping to Paris. The inspiration for the film appears to be the master-slave relationship between Pozzo and Lucky in Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot''. Indeed, as with many of Polanski's early short films, the influence of Beckett and the

Theater of the Absurd The Theatre of the Absurd (french: théâtre de l'absurde ) is a post–World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is also a term for the style o ...

is very strong. ''The Fat and the Lean'' has been interpreted as allegorical work expressing Polanski's youthful desire to flee the repressive communist regime in postwar Poland and escape to the West. Portions of the film were featured in Marina Zenovich's controversial 2008 documentary, '' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired''. In the context of the documentary, the situation depicted in ''The Fat in the Lean'' seems a bitterly ironic commentary on Polanski's legal troubles during 1977 — almost fifteen years after he had left Poland and was living and working in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

as a successful Hollywood director. The slave tries to flee to Paris; the master gives the slave a goat in order to persuade him to stay. But the goat is chained to the slave's ankle, and becomes so inconvenient that the slave tries to flee once more. The master frees the goat and unfastens the chain, and the slave is so overjoyed that he remains to serve the master with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. If there is an allegory here it might be about human nature and subjugation.

External links

* 1961 films Films directed by Roman Polanski Films produced by Roman Polanski Films scored by Krzysztof Komeda Films with screenplays by Roman Polanski French short films French independent films 1960s French films {{indie-film-stub