''Farewells'' (also titled ''Lydia Ate the Apple'' and ''Partings'' in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
; original Polish title: ''Pożegnania'')
''is'' a Polish
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
released in 1958 and directed by
Wojciech Has. Taking place in Poland during the late 1930s and early 1940s, this melancholy film evokes the insecurity and despair pervading Poland at the time.
Premise
The story begins immediately before
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and centers on Pawel (
Tadeusz Janczar), a member of a conservative, bourgeois family, and his love for the thoroughly jaded Lidka (
Maria Wachowiak), a dancer. The mismatched pair finds momentary happiness during a trip to the countryside, however social conventions and the lovers' inability to defy them force Pawel and Lidka to part. The times change, war breaks out and ends; Pawel suffers at
Auschwitz
Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
concentration camp and Lidka marries his cousin. Years later the two rediscover each other much changed, and find that they may still have the capacity for love.
Cast
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Maria Wachowiak as Lidka
*
Tadeusz Janczar as Paweł
*
Gustaw Holoubek as Mirek
*
Stanisław Jaworski as Doctor Janowski
*
Stanisław Milski as Professor
*
Zdzisław Mrożewski as Paweł's Father
*
Irena Netto as Motel Owner
*
Józef Pieracki as Professor Michniewicz
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Irena Starkówna Countess Róza
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Helena Sokolowska as Aunt Waleria Siekierzynska
*
Hanna Skarzanka as Maryna
*
Jarema Stepowski as Waiter
*
Saturnin Zórawski as Butler Feliks
Production
The film is an adaptation of a lyrical and reflective
novel
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
by
Stanisław Dygat
Stanisław Ludwik Dygat (5 December 1914, Warsaw – 29 January 1978, Warsaw) was a Polish writer. His most famous novel, "Jezioro Bodeńskie" ("Lake Constance"), was written during World War II and published in 1946. All of his works are partly a ...
,
with a screenplay written by Dygat himself and Has.
See also
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Cinema of Poland
The history of cinema in Poland is almost as long as the history of cinematography, and it has universally recognized achievements, even though Polish films tend to be less commercially available than films from several other European nations.
A ...
*
List of Polish language films
References
External links
*
1958 films
Polish black-and-white films
Films directed by Wojciech Has
Films based on Polish novels
1950s Polish-language films
1958 drama films
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