Uno dei registi più amari di Cracovia,
Wojciech Has, fece numerosi documentari prima di
emergere nel 1957 con
the expressionist
Petla/ The Noose (1957), adapted from a story by Marek Hlasko,
starring the great theatrical actor Gustaw Holoubek,
with sets designed by Roman Wolyniec,
cinematography by newbie Mieczyslaw Jahoda,
and a soundtrack that launched the career of composer Thaddeus Baird.
Un alcoolizzato cerca invano di sottrarsi al vizio di bere e finisce
per suicidarsi.
Pozegnania/ Farewells (1958),
based on Stanislaw Dygat's novel, photographed again by Jahoda,
storia dell'amore infelice fra uno studente per
bene e una prostituta;
Wspolny Pokoj/ Common Room (1959), adapted from
Zbigniew Unilowski's novel,
apologo nichilista in cui un gruppo di persone
passa il tempo a bere e a discutere senza riuscire a trovare una buona ragione per continuare a vivere.
Rozstanie/ A Separation/ Goodbye to the Past (1960), based on
Jadwiga Zylinska's novella, with lavish sets designed by
Jerzy Skarzynski,
commedia sentimentale in cui l'attrice tornata al paese è contesa
fra la nostalgia e il dolore del proprio passato;
the psychological drama Zloto/ Gold (1961), a collaboration with screenwriter Bohdan Czeszko, set in a coal mine, one of his best
Jak byk Kochana/ How to Be Loved (1962),
based on a short story by Kazimierz Brandys and starring
Zbigniew Cybulski,
il capolinea nella
corsa a rivangare il passato;
The three-hour surrealistic orgy
Rekopis Znaleziony w Saragosie/ Manuscript of Saragossa (1964),
adapted from Jan Potocki's novel and
another collaboration with Jahoda and
Skarzynski,
is a bizarre rebus of nested tales, a labyrinthine psychological odyssey, a
time loop that ends where it had started, a postmodernist take on the
"Decameron" and the "Arabian Nights".
Szyfry/ Codes (1966), an adaptation of Andrzej Kijowski's story,
Il passaggio al colore, con Lalka/ Doll (1968), adapted from
Boleslaw Prus' novel,
favorisce l'accentuarsi
dell'onirismo e delle rarefazione figurativi nell'angoscia ossessiva di tematiche demoniache: un uomo
reso schiavo da una perversa aristocratica decaduta.
Sanatorium Pod Klepsydra/ The Hourglass Sanatorium (1973),
adapted from Bruno Schulz's novel,
photographed by Witold Sobocinski,
with an almost supernatural recreation of traditional Jewish life,
is a nonlinear account of
young Jew's obsession with traumas of his childhood who visits his father
at the sanatorium where he is hospitalized.
It is a oneirci, delirious and visionary, work that bridges pay and future.
Nieciekawa Historia/ An Uneventful Story (1982),
based on a Chekhov story,
photographed by Grzegorz Kedzierski,
è un Kammerspiel claustrofobico, un lento scavo nella desolazione della morte di un uomo.
Pismak (1984), adapted from the novel by Wladyslaw Terlecki
Osobisty Pamietnik Grzesanika przez Niego Samego Spisany/ A Sinner's Personal Diary Written by Himself/ Memoirs of a Sinner (1985), an adaptation of
James Hogg’s gothic novel "The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" (1824),
onorico, fiabesco, virtuosismo figurativo e scenografico: un apologo sul bene e sul male.
He closed his career with yet another adaptation,
Niezwykla Podroz Baltazara Kobera/ The Extraordinary Journey of Baltazar Kober (1988),
from Frederick Tristan's novel.
Has died in 2000.
