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CHOPIN IN PARIS
POLAND 1969
DIRECTION Stanisław Grabowski
SCREENPLAY Stanisław Grabowski
About Film:
Although Chopin's grave is located in the Parisian cemetery of Père-Lachaise, his heart rests in the Warsaw’s Holy Cross church. The biopic presents the indelible traces of Chopin's presence in Paris, which became his second home after the famous composer left his homeland in 1830. The camera takes us on a tour of contemporary Paris in a search for the places where Chopin lived and gave concerts (like the Conservatoire's Hall), where he published new pieces and met with friends. We visit the Hotel Lambert – the meeting place of Polish émigrés who sought refuge in France following the national defeat of 1830, as well as the Adam Mickiewicz Museum where valuable Chopin memorabilia were collected. We can admire the “Apotheosis of Homer” painted by Delacroix on view at the Luxembourg Palace, depicting Dante with Chopin's face and giving Aspasia the face of George Sand. The film's commentary, written by writer Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz emphasizes that the personality of Chopin was best characterized by Cyprian Norwid, the great Romantic poet, who made the most insightful remark about Chopin: “A Warsovian by birth, a Pole at heart, a citizen of the world by virtue of his talent”.
COLOR STUDIES OF CHOPIN
POLAND/USA 1944
GENRE music film, experimental
DIRECTION Eugeniusz Cękalski
SCREENPLAY Eugeniusz Cękalski, Krystyna Swinarska
About Film:
Eugeniusz Cękalski, a leading representative of the pre-war left-wing avant-garde cinema, first attempted to tackle the Chopin phenomenon in 1937 making an experimental musical film "Three Etudes by Chopin". Seven years later after being commissioned by PIC (Polish Information Center), he came back to this project and made a picture similar in style: "Color Studies of Chopin". Once again he used three works by the great composer presenting each in a very different visual setting: the stirring, melancholic Nocturne is illustrated by changing images of nature, the vigorous Mazurka in F minor is set against a folk dance performed by members of the Russian Ballet, Natalia Krassowska and Jerzy Łazowski. The most interesting is his concept for the "Revolutionary Etude" combining elements of an abstract play on shapes and lights with shots of explosions, screaming and contorted faces, planes with flames of fire devouring symbolic icons of Poland. Also presented in two other segments are: a scarecrow, grain spikes, a rural thatched cottage and a roadside shrine with the figure of a Sorrowing Christ.
CHOPIN: DESIRE FOR LOVE
(Polish: Chopin. Pragnienie miłości)
Directed by Jerzy Antczak
Running time: 134 minutes.
Language English
Genre: Romance
Run Time: 118 minutes
Cast
• Piotr Adamczyk as Frédéric Chopin: famous Polish composer and pianist.
• Danuta Stenka as George Sand: French author whose real name was Amandine Lucille Aurore Dudevant-Dupin.
• Adam Woronowicz as Maurice Dudevant: Sand's son.
• Bozena Stachura and Sara Müldner as Solange Dudevant: Sand's daughter. Müldner plays the young version of Solange
• Andrzej Zielinski as Albert Grzymala: Chopin's closest friend
• Michal Konarski as Ferenc Liszt: famous Hungarian composer and pianist.
• Jadwiga Baranska as Mrs. Justyna Chopin: Chopin's mother
• Jerzy Zelnik as Mr. Nicolas Chopin: Chopin's father
• Agnieszka Sitek as Izabela Chopin: Chopin's sister
• Anna Radwan as Ludwika Chopin: Chopin's sister
The film starts when Fryderyk Chopin is still a young man living with his parents and his two sisters in Warsaw where he frequently plays the piano and composes music for the decidedly unmusical Grand Duke Constantine. Shortly before the November Uprising, Chopin's father urges him to leave for Paris, which Fryderyk does. Once in Paris he meets novelist George Sand, who has just split from her violent lover Mallefille. Although he is immediately drawn to Sand, he initially refuses her advances. However, after several months, their mutual friend Albert urges Chopin to get to know George better and a passionate romance starts to build. During their affair, Chopin is diagnosed with tuberculosis and has to cope with a declining health. The relationship is further complicated by George's two children: Maurice and Solange. While Maurice's near-hysterical hatred of Chopin leads from one escalation to the other, Solange develops an obsessive love for Chopin which leads to a rivalry between Solange and her mother. After several years of constant fighting between Chopin, George, Maurice and Solange, the relationship ends and Chopin calls for one of his sisters to help him get through the last days of his life. Sponsered by:
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