Zdzislaw Papierz

湖へ休暇に向かう途中の裕福な中年夫婦が、貧しげな青年を車に乗せた。しかし屈折した心を持つ青年はすねてばかりで…。

A young doctor is tired of being sought by women. One night he meets a young girl who all but forces herself into his room where they talk of morals and love. But he loses her when he goes out to see some friends and then rushes madly around the city after her.

The story takes place before World War II and centers on Pawel, a member of a conservative, middle-class family, and his love for Lidka, a taxi dancer. Social conventions and the lovers' inability to defy those forces Pawel and Lidka benefit. Times change, war breaks out, leading to Pawel sent to Auschwitz while Lidka marry his cousin. Their love has survived and conventions are no longer the issue.

Zbigniew Cybulski and Sonja Ziemann play lovers struggling to find happiness and privacy in overcrowded Warsaw. The movie shows an honest picture of life in a war-damaged city, contrasting the characters' difficulties with their dreams of a better life. It was banned in Poland in 1958 and would not been seen anywhere until its European release one year later.

ナチ支配下のポーランド。石炭を盗むのが生業の若者が、仲間を独軍の機銃掃射で失い、自分も傷ついたところを工員の青年に助けられる。彼を通じて抵抗運動の女性闘士を知った若者は彼女に恋するが、やがて彼女にも悲劇が訪れる……。脇役で出演もしているポランスキーをして“この作品でポーランド映画のすべてが始まった”と言わしめた、ワイダの長編処女作。後に「地下水道」「灰とダイヤモンド」と続く“抵抗三部作”の最初の作品。まだ演出には生硬な所があるが、感情を一気に衝撃的なラストまで高めていく剛腕は彼ならではのものだ。