Farewells

1958 film

1958 (1958)

Running time

90 minLanguagePolish

Farewells (also titled Lydia Ate the Apple and Partings in the United States; original Polish title: Pożegnania)^[1] is a Polish film 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 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 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

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
Irena Starkówna Countess Róza
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 by Stanisław Dygat,^[2] with a screenplay written by Dygat himself and Has.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Farewells, retrieved 2023-07-29
^ Swidzinski, W. (2007). "Farewells - What does Wojciech J. Has did Adieu to?". Kwartalnik Filmowy (in Polish) (57–58). ISSN 0452-9502.