I won't go into all the great things about the film since others have already done that. The thing that bothered me about this film and made me angry because it ruined the movie for me was the actress playing Agnieszka. She was absolutely terrible. Her movements were contrived and amateur, her behavior offputting, and her voice grating on the ears. I know this woman wound up becoming a famous actress in Poland but this was her first film and it certainly shows.
It seems that the script called for her character to show drive and motivation to get the full story. Instead, the actress mistook that direction for overconfidence and rudeness. She spent the entire film yelling at everyone, physically assaulting them, and violating the personal space of everyone she came into contact with. In fact her acting skills were so nonexistent that if you were to watch the film without sound, you would see what looks like a silent movie playing out when she's on screen. She kept making these exaggerated faces, scrunching up her face, squinting her eyes, and blowing out cigarette smoke impatiently. She had sharp teeth and pale skin so when she forced a smile, it made her look like a vampire who was about to suck the lifeblood out of someone. She had three weeks to do the film and yet on the first day, she was yelling at people telling them to hurry up. She was an unethical liar who didn't listen to anyone. She was supposed to be something like a journalist interviewing people but she had absolutely no social skills and was incapable of reading body language. She barreled her way into people's homes and behaved as though she belonged there. She routinely made people uncomfortable and didn't care about anything but what she wanted from them. Even when she met a famous director who she could have learned from, she pushed her way into his car and proceeded to try to tell him how to do his job. Her only frame of reference as a filmmaker was to tell the cameraman to shoot handheld like "those new American films." Not only is she a pushy liar but is so unoriginal and uncreative that she steals her technique from far more talented people.
Agnieszka's presence made me so upset because I loved the rest of the film and thought she ruined it. If another actor had been cast in the role, it could have been so much better. Too bad Wajda seemed to be dazzled by this blond vampire's high beam eyes and sharp fangs to see through how awful she really was.
It seems that the script called for her character to show drive and motivation to get the full story. Instead, the actress mistook that direction for overconfidence and rudeness. She spent the entire film yelling at everyone, physically assaulting them, and violating the personal space of everyone she came into contact with. In fact her acting skills were so nonexistent that if you were to watch the film without sound, you would see what looks like a silent movie playing out when she's on screen. She kept making these exaggerated faces, scrunching up her face, squinting her eyes, and blowing out cigarette smoke impatiently. She had sharp teeth and pale skin so when she forced a smile, it made her look like a vampire who was about to suck the lifeblood out of someone. She had three weeks to do the film and yet on the first day, she was yelling at people telling them to hurry up. She was an unethical liar who didn't listen to anyone. She was supposed to be something like a journalist interviewing people but she had absolutely no social skills and was incapable of reading body language. She barreled her way into people's homes and behaved as though she belonged there. She routinely made people uncomfortable and didn't care about anything but what she wanted from them. Even when she met a famous director who she could have learned from, she pushed her way into his car and proceeded to try to tell him how to do his job. Her only frame of reference as a filmmaker was to tell the cameraman to shoot handheld like "those new American films." Not only is she a pushy liar but is so unoriginal and uncreative that she steals her technique from far more talented people.
Agnieszka's presence made me so upset because I loved the rest of the film and thought she ruined it. If another actor had been cast in the role, it could have been so much better. Too bad Wajda seemed to be dazzled by this blond vampire's high beam eyes and sharp fangs to see through how awful she really was.