Original subtitles

Mr Director.

Mr Director!

Everyone's gone.

Have you got a light?

Four meters...

Thirty five...

Four twenty.

What's he holding in the hand?

Paper?

You have to open his hand.

What is it?

Some documents.

Biography.

I was born in the year 1930, after graduating...

...I forgot that in school I had a friend,

who used to give me some cheese...

He came from a village... After graduating...

I was trying to get a government job.

In 1938 I polished my shoes using the duvet...

After primary school I entered secondary school.

After graduating high school I was trying...

Come to me, all you people!

Come to... me... all you... people...

Is he sleeping? Maybe he's just pretending?

In 1938, in a hotel, I polished my shoes

with the carpet.

And I cut the towel, while drying the razor.

When I turned 18 I wanted to take the exams.

But I couldn't...

Because in 1939 the world war began...

In this cataclysmic event many lost their lives...

In tonight's show

we'd like to present

extensive parts of some modern

theatrical spectacles.

...and "Card Index" by Rozewicz, directed by Konrad Swinarski.

As you can see, it's not a random selection...

This is my hand.

I am moving my hand.

My hand. My fingers.

My living hand.

It is so obedient.

I does everything I tell it to.

Don't keep your hands under the bedclothes.

It isn't nice and it isn't healthy.

What will become of him if he lolls in bed like this?

Up you get, my boy!

My boy!

He's sixty years old.

And he's only a music-hall manager!

He's playing a nasty game under those bedclothes

Nonsense!

Can't you see there's someone else under there?

I think it's a woman.

You're mad! A seven-year old boy...

Pinched a shilling from me yesterday...

I'll flog him for that!

And he scrounges sugar from the sugar bowl!

But he is due at a board meeting.

He stole a shilling from me.

If he's said, "Daddy, please give me a shilling."

I would have given him one.

- He must be punished! - Quiet! He's asleep.

Who is he taking after?

Don't pretend you are asleep.

Get up when your father is talking to you!

Stop! Who goes there? Stop, or I'll shoot!

Halt!

He's talking in his sleep.

Ah, that terrible war.

I want to talk to you.

You little monkey.

I am listening.

Why did you eat all the sugar in the sugar bowl?

Don't tell lies.

Tell me exactly how it was.

Something tempted me, Daddy, some devil...

If you had said:

"Daddy, may I have some sugar..."

Sir... It's time for the meeting.

After forty years I've realized the enormity of my sins.

It was me who ate the sausage

on Good Friday, the 15th of April 1926.

I am ashamed of my act.

My dastardly act can't be excused.

I ate the sausage out of greed. I wasn't hungry.

Thanks to your care, Dad.

I had enough bread in my childhood.

I also had pocket money for...

Sweets.

Nevertheless, I erred.

But your father is asking about the sugar,

- not the sausage - Mother...

Don't defend me.

Renounce your son.

I ate both the sugar and the sausage.

We began eating the sausage at about 15 hrs.

It's time you went, sir.

I'd also like to confess...

- ...that... - It really is time you went!

Dear parents...

As you can hear, a board meeting awaits me.

The meeting

is not for another two hours, but you need to prepare.

I will prepare you, sir.

For everything.

War again.

No.

The Princess of Monaco has given birth to octuplets.

Follies and drolleries and such

are being organised throughout the country.

From the peaks of the Tatra Mountains

to the blue Baltic.

But why in Poland? The Princess...

resides in Monaco.

That makes no difference.

A hundred of our young activists

will be travelling on scooters to the Congo.

Others are making vows of chastity.

Buffoons, idiots, cretins.

Baboons.

Dungheaps, thieves.

Swindlers, pederasts, onanists, feature writers.

Moralists, critics, bigamists.

Idiots.

I am in bed.

I am in bed.

The chiefs of state and the chiefs of staff

are allowing me to lie

and look at the ceiling.

The ceiling. The beautiful, clean, white ceiling.

The bosses are so nice.

I shall have a quiet Sunday.

I was passing by...

And I heard you calling me...

Me calling you?

It's fifteen years since you left home.

You haven't given me a sign of life since.

Yes.

You left no address.

I had none.

You said you were going to get some cigarettes.

I got them.

It's fifteen years since you went.

Explain yourself. Say something.

I'd like a cup of tea.

Tea...

Tea, when I want an account of your life!

You've been a disappointment, Henryk.

My name is Victor.

You've been a disappointment to me.

You're a swine.

And a fraud!

I don't want to talk anymore.

He doesn't want to talk.

Shut up, you over there!

If only you had said a word... Nothing!

You stroked my breasts...

You fawned upon me like a snake...

You seduced me with beautiful words.

Beautiful words?

You said we would have a house with a garden.

A couple of children, a son and a daughter.

The world was coming to an end and you were lying!

The world didn't come to an end.

We've come through.

You can't imagine how glad I am to be lying down.

I can lie down, pare my nails, listen to music.

The bosses have given me the whole of Sunday.

Why don't you come to bed? We'll talk.

I mustn't be late for the show.

I've already got my ticket.

Leave me your newspaper.

I thought we would all die.

So I talked about children, flowers...

...about life. It's quite simple.

I will never forgive you.

Before pouring beer into them,

bottles ought to be carefully washed.

The workers employed in this job

often do not trouble themselves

to check whether the bottles are clean.

The result is that, when filled,

bottles appear to contain various foreign bodies.

There are also cases

of flies swimming in the beer.

The beer trade provides criminals with opportunities.

For example, how can one turn

a 100 litre barrel into a 120 liter barrel?

Very simply.

Instead of a full glass of beer the customer receives

a glass only half or a third full.

We agree...

The beer ought to possess the so-called head of froth.

That is why all glasses

ought to be marked.

- What is he talking about? - About beer!

Does this beer contain allusions to the government?

Hidden meanings, symbols, allegories?

Is our Hero an ideological watchdog?

He is talking about beer.

There must be something hidden in that beer!

He says flies are swimming in the beer.

Flies?

Well, that's something.

Rubbish!

In his case beer means beer and a fly means a fly.

Nothing more.

For heaven's sake! This is no hero!

He is just a nonentity.

Where are all the heroes of old?

The bards, the knights in armour and the prophets.

A fly in "small beer"!

Not just beer, but small beer.

What does it all mean?

It is the theatre befitting our great age

The age appears great

but the people are rather small.

As always, as always.

Flies swimming in small beer.

There's something hidden in that.

...the inside of the glass

is covered with a film of grease

and grease is enemy no.1 of the golden drink.

We must end this once and for all.

Uncle!

Uncle!

I've joined a pilgrimage to a monastery...

I am calling you on the way.

He descended into Hell

because it was his way.

How are things with you?

- So-so... - Stasiu!

So-so, uncle. So many years.

We haven't seen each other for 25 years, uncle!

I'm sure your feet ache, uncle.

Must be a hundred kilometers.

How nice that you've called on me, uncle.

I'll prepare some water so you can soak your feet in it.

You know what, uncle?

- Put your feet in the water. - All right!

Let uncle...

Uncle...

Of uncle...

With uncle...

What a kind-hearted boy.

Thank you, child, for this ceremonious welcome.

I am coming

uncle.

There you go.

Thank you, my boy.

Thank you.

How are things with you?

Well, you see, uncle, I was going to write to you

but Sophie said you were ill. so I thought you had died.

I'm terribly glad to see you, uncle.

You have no idea, uncle.

How are things with you, uncle?

One has to push this barrow of life somehow.

Nothing to get excited about.

But you are real, uncle.

You hat is real, your suitcase is real, your heart is real.

Your feelings and thoughts are real.

A whole real uncle.

Even your leggings are real.

And the buttons and your words.

Real words.

Well, and how are you, Wladziu?

Helenka told me, you've been to Paris.

Yes, I have.

Well, how was it?

Let's hear something about that Paris.

I will never get a chance to see it...

Auntie is also curious.

With pleasure, uncle.

Wasn't a waste of time, was it?

Maybe...

And how do people manage over there?

Oh, they manage somehow...

Would you...

Would you like one? They're French.

If they are French,

I'll take two.

I bought some matches in Paris.

I bought toilet soap in Paris.

A toothbrush, razor blades, shirts, perfumes,

Paper clips, pins, needles.

They eat a lot of salads,

they eat cheese,

and drink wine.

Of course the cooking is French.

So you've had a change of scene

and you bought a thing or two.

You know, uncle, this city lies in a blueish mist

like pure alcohol.

But...

Well, you appear a little...

downcast.

Oh, Wladziu, Wladziu!

Why do you worry so much?

Ah, you see, uncle... It's not worth talking about.

I clapped.

I cheered.

What do you mean 'clapped'?

Just simply clapped.

Everybody clapped.

I am not interested in everybody.

I am thinking of myself. I clapped.

You are a baby. Picasso also clapped.

Oh, uncle, uncle...

I know a lot of people clapped, but they have forgotten it.

They now occupy themselves with the latest cars.

Or enjoy themselves at masked balls. But I still put my hands together.

And that clapping still claps inside me.

Sometimes there is such a colossal clapping in me.

Clapping, uncle, clapping!

Well, anyway...

You are a miserable, weak, lifeless lot.

Bald and splitting hairs.

What am I to say?

I remember

during the disturbances

we threw our commander into the tomato soup

Let's see,

what was his name?

- Into the soup? - Yes!

It so happened

there was some tomato soup in the cauldron.

Times were uneasy.

There were various incidents. Rebellions.

In other words, things were on the boil.

He was

making an inspection of the kitchen.

Soup was being cooked

for the whole company.

We threw him in.

We covered the cauldron with the lid.

Even now,

I can't help laughing

when I remember it.

You have a delicate conscience.

I absolve you.

I am sad, uncle.

You now, uncle, when I was a little boy.

I played at being horses.

I would turn into a horse, and with my mane flying,

I would rush through the courtyard and the streets.

But now I can't change into a human being,

though I am a director of an institute.

I'd like to dig up the earth,

pick out a potato or two, and roast them for you, uncle.

I'd like to own

an apple tree

with little branches, leaves, blossoms and apples.

Such a long time

since I've sat in the shade.

Apples are covered

with a transparent film

of wax.

Finger prints are clearly showing on such apples.

Apples are hanging on branches.

They are awaiting my hand.

Just like girls.

Well, Kaziu,

will you come home?

We are all waiting for you: Mum and your sisters.

I can't uncle.

Don't you want

to turn your back on the great big world?

No.

Haven't you eaten your fill?

Haven't you?

My appetite is still growing, uncle.

Whenever I open my mouth

I would gulp

whole cities, people, buildings

and painting and breasts,

TV sets, stars,

titles, medals,

honors,

Why don't you

pack

and come with me?

Tomorrow you'll be home.

No, uncle, I can't go back.

Come, come

spring is coming, the birds are singing.

I have a lot of things to do, various matters to settle.

I can't make head or tail of it. Later perhaps.

I think I'll go now.

Well, my dear...

God be with you.

Who are you?

Who is he?

What he is?

I have my pride.

No, sir, you are too insignificant

to talk to me like this.

I didn't want to know

had I known I couldn't have cheated.

But I am suffering.

I am... I am...

I smell a stranger. I smell varnish

and whitewash, farting and literature.

Oh, it's you, Bobby.

Bobby, down!

Dead dog.

Bobby, beg.

Paw, Bobby.

Right paw.

He is well trained, isn't he?

I don't know.

Tell him

to suffer

and he suffers.

Tell him

to jump.

And he jumps.

He can even read and write.

Training isn't difficult. All you need

is a skillful approach and a little patience.

Bobby

has got feet and he is good at sniffing the winds.

Will you take him?

I have no money.

Doesn't he bite?

He has no teeth.

He's only got a tongue.

He licks.

I'll give you

- a calculator for him. - All right.

Want a drink?

An espresso and a brandy.

You drank black coffee at the previous phase.

And what?

You better have some water.

An honest simple man soaked his feet in this water.

Drink!

It's a medicine for the likes of you.

For the likes of me.

Enough!

You are civil. Sit down.

We'll have some coffee in a minute.

I haven't got any coffee or cups or money, but then,

what are surrealism, metaphysics

and the poetry of dreams for...

Two large coffees.

Sir?

Menu, please.

(Reads in Hungarian)

You speak Hungarian well.

A little.

How do you like it here?

Budapest is wonderful.

It's got great location. On the Danube river.

Are you here on duty?

Engineer?

No, I've got a different profession.

What do you do...

In here?

You see...

I...

I write sometimes.

A journalist.

Why are you pestering me? I was telling you...

I write for the journals, sometimes. Once in...

I am...

Careful.

Have a courage.

I am a poet.

I am a poet.

I am a poet.

I am a poet. I am a poet.

If you'd only know how difficult it is

to be a poet nowadays.

And a waiter.

What is it outside?

What is standing there?

What are you talking about?

There's gallows standing outside.

Not at all.

It's a merry-go-round.

Can't you see it is spinning?

Music...

is playing.

But there are hanging...

Yes, people.

On comfortable seats.

They hang.

That's true.

You are

very kind.

I feel very

heavy and dizzy after the meal.

I must admit that I am too.

I know.

Me too...

I write, too.

I write poetry.

And I am not ashamed of it.

Big stain. Black one.

It's the ink.

The ink.

You can wash it away. With saliva.

And you've got stain.

Two of them.

Two red ones.

That's blood.

Real blood?

Enemy blood.

I only know the taste of water.

And vodka.

And saliva.

And ink.

What does blood taste like?

A drop of blood.

How did you survive the war, the occupation?

Did you ever hold a gun?

Thanks to the wife... The wife...

To the wife,

in the wife,

with the wife,

on the wife, under the wife...

Get lost.

Get lost!

You understand...

I him, he me.

You know what he's like.

I'll show him, you'll see.

Oh, darling, there you are!

My husband, my dear.

- This is my friend, darling. - Let me kiss your hand.

Just imagine my dear, a new wool dress,

with some great patterns...

That's wonderful!

We have to go now!

Let me kiss you. Call me!

Let me kiss your hand.

Why don't you hang yourselves?

I prefer the little toe of the left foot

to the lot of you taken together.

Go and hang yourselves.

No?

You love yourselves too much?

That hag loves her little dog more than me, a man.

Because it is her doggie.

She loves her appendix more than the whole of humanity.

Hi there, Dzidek!

Did you forget about today's confession?

I still haven't examined my conscience.

What sins can you have?

You ate ham on Friday, you sissy?

Apparently, Nanek was wanking so hard he passed out.

Come on, let's go.

Do you know he's got a brothel in America?

He is not teaching in our school?

No! He ran away when the war started.

I know nothing about the war.

I died in 1936.

I drowned.

So you know nothing?

There was a second world war.

Tell me, how was it?

Have you got time?

Two, three minutes.

That's enough.

You remember the wire factory?

On Friday

1st of September of 1939 bombs fell on it.

I went to buy a newspaper.

A boy shouted that the war began.

Someone kicked him in the ass and said: "Stop telling bullshit!"

But within one hour the whole city was destroyed.

Our street burned down.

It went on for a couple of years.

There was an occupation.

In May of 1945 the war ended.

Some 33 millions of people died.

How about you?

Just like everyone, you know.

What now?

Won't you go to the Franciscans?

Retreat.

I don't know...

I really don't know.

After the mass, drop in on Kazik.

All right. See you.

Shame on you.

Such a young boy peeping at women.

What are you doing?

This is a private apartment.

Who let you in?

Private apartment?

I don't know who you are.

Mr Wacek, you spied on me in my bath.

That was ages ago...

Yes, I do remember.

You have now come out of your bath.

Please go away, I have no time, I have to...

Read a letter.

I'll wait.

My Jan...

I am touched by your words.

Please come so that I can use my fingers...

and put in your mouth...

the sweetest candy...

out of the box that you sent me. Zosia.

Dear Zdzislaw,

I receive some worrying news about you...

and your reckless behavior.

Is this how you decided to thank me

for all the care that I put into your upbringing?

You're not attending the lectures.

You're busy playing and flirting.

Try to behave better, otherwise...

I will not speak with you.

Not only will I never again give you money.

I will also stop calling you my son.

I am sending you a blessing. Your mother is crying.

Your desperate father.

Dear cousins,

your wedding anniversary

(mumbling)

live by the values that you yourselves accepted.

Warsaw, 24th of January, 1902.

Shame on you.

So young and already a Peeping Tom.

Who let you in? This is a private apartment.

Private apartment.

Apartment private.

I don't know who you are.

I remember you as a little boy

in a sailor suit with a collar.

Ages ago.

So what?

So what?

I remember.

I was fifteen.

It was July.

The light of the setting sun in the water.

Red river.

Under the crowns of black alders.

You were white and fat.

You were a white bosomy wench.

Entering slowly the dark water.

Black alders stood over the water.

A red sun in their crowns.

I would have given

half my life, my whole life, a whole city, the whole world

to touch your breasts.

If I could put my hand on your thigh,

on your Mons veneris.

Oh what?

On your Mons veneris. You idiot.

You could have been

a queen. You could have been

music, a garden, a fruit,

you could have been the Milky Way.

You cow!

But you kept it for

for some wise guy, twister,

cynic, buffoon, thief.

Now you're blubbering.

You could have been my

flame, a spring and a joy.

How I suffered then.

I wanted to jump out of my skin.

Your belly was a revelation to me.

Your rump was a star.

You idiot, you barrel of pickled meat.

Run away before I crush you on the spot!

So you

wash your hands of me.

I do.

I placed so many hopes

on a visit to you.

I thought that for the sake of an old friendship

you would give a hand

to a lonely woman.

But you couldn't care less that

the secretion of my gonad

is increasing.

Yes, Mr...

Waclaw.

Yes, Mr Waclaw.

I often suffer from headaches,

hot flushes,

dizziness and pains in the joints.

The doctor

thinks the oral use of Estradiol will be sufficient.

But this drug gives me nausea and stomach pains.

If it hadn't been for the fact that I've known you

since you were so little

I wouldn't have turned

with such an intimate matter

to a stranger.

In this year's campaign

the sugar refinery "Chybie" was the first off the mark,

from Bielsko-Biala region.

How the world has changed.

People are indifferent.

Indifferent to other people's suffering.

Do something, get a move on, think.

There he lies while time flies.

Say something, do something, push the action forward!

There is nothing happening.

Leave me in peace.

Thank God, he is not asleep.

Must I do something?

I don't know... Perhaps...

He's falling asleep. The gods will rage.

There can be no bread without flour.

Something should be happening!

I don't feel like doing anything.

But even in a Beckett play somebody talks, waits, suffers.

Somebody weeps, dies, falls, farts.

If you don't move, the theatre is in ruins.

Today a flea circus is performing "Hamlet".

Leave me alone, I am going away.

Stop!

- I am going away! - He's drunk.

I'll finish the lot of them!

You are falling asleep again.

You see, you fool.

Go on, crack it with your head.

Where do you think you are going?

Where? To the hospital?

To humanity, to the fridge?

To the salmon, to the vodka, to a pair of thighs,

to a teenage leg, to the nipple?

Go on, bite!

Bite your own fingers.

It's a good nourishment.

Everything dies under your hand

because you don't believe.

Though guy, where are you crawling?

You've been crawling for the last 58 years.

To the sun? To truth?

To the wall.

I stand against the wall.

My brothers, my generation, I am talking to you.

They can't understand us.

Neither the young nor the old.

How did it happen?

I can't understand.

I have been...

There were so many different things in me.

And now...

And now there is nothing.

Here.

Here.

There is no need.

No need to cover.

No need to cover up my eyes.

I want to see.

To the end.

I'd like a cream bun.

Well...

Why not, after all.

I'd like a cream bun, please.

When I was still alive...

I think you'll be shocked.

You'll be bored and amused by this tale.

I'd like a cream bun and a small coffee.

Why small?

Don't you understand my language?

Are you a foreigner?

Meine Hobbies: Reisen, Buecher,

Theater, Kunstgewerbe...

- You are German. - Yes.

I am delighted.

You see,

I must explain you that there has been a misunderstanding.

So this isn't the 'Crocodile'?

You young ones have no idea.

How old are you?

Twenty.

But the door was open.

I saw various people, they chatted and drank coffee.

You young ones poke fun at everything.

Though maybe that is how moronic journalists see you.

I have faith in you people.

Please, do not laugh.

I have a request to make.

Allow me a few minutes. I want to tell you...

I heard you speak German.

I have nothing interesting to tell you.

Please don't think I want to seduce you, to push you into bed.

Oh yes, there is a bed here.

Do forgive me, I hadn't noticed.

If only you could understand me.

It's all so simple.

I wish to say

that it is good that you exist.

That you are in this world of ours,

just like this.

That you are twenty.

That you have such hair, lips,

such eyes, that you are smiling.

That's how it should be.

I wish you would go on smiling like this and be happy.

You see,

I am covered in dirt and blood.

Your father and I,

we hunted in the forests.

Hunted?

Hunted what?

Each other.

With rifles, with guns.

No, no...

I shan't go into that.

Now the forests are quiet, aren't they?

It is quiet in the forests.

Please...

Do smile.

In you lies all the hope and joy of the world.

You must be good,

pure

and gay.

We were all in a terrible darkness

beneath the earth.

I want

to say it again: I, an old freedom fighter,

wish you happiness.

I wish happiness to the youth of your country

as well as ours.

Let's say our farewells.

We shall not see each other again.

How silly.

How terribly silly.

Isn't it possible to say anything,

to explain to another person?

It's impossible to convey

what's most important.

Oh, God.

Aufstehen.

Aufstehen!

Raus!

Alles raus!

Maul halten!

Klappe zu, Schnabel halten!

Willst du noch quatschen?

Du hast aber Mist gemacht!

Du Arschloch!

Schweinehund! Du Drecksack!

Don't be afraid.

This is your room.

See there's table, there's the wardrobe.

An apple's on the table.

Furniture frightens you?

The man won't come back.

You are frightened of the chair.

Of an old newspaper,

of a knock.

of voices behind walls.

You behave strangely,

Perhaps you wish to draw attention.

Smile.

That man won't come back.

Look in our eyes,

Don't hide in corners.

Don't stand against the wall.

No one compels you to stand against the wall.

Speak.

Officer, don't you recognize me?

No.

They used to call me "Raven".

You've forgotten me, officer.

People, leave me alone with the past.

Are you upset with people?

Wouldn't you have a drop of alcohol?

There's half a bottle in the counter, and a glass.

There was some meat but...

The father ate it.

Sure.

Meat is meat.

What do you do now, officer?

I am sure you've got an important post.

I am the vice-president of the National Opera.

Officer, do you remember how we used to sing?

We have, we have, we have no fear of the Germans!

Forgive me, Raven, I have no time.

I have to sort things out, check,

revise, and draw the conclusion.

There's no time for the memories.

Officer...

You don't recall

how you killed me.

Officer

Officer

you were upset with people

you got upset with the whole world.

Raven

How are you?

You, officer,

you were cleaning you gun.

Didn't you know it was loaded?

Same old stories.

What for?

Why bother, Raven?

It was my last day.

The cook even gave me

one kilo of bacon.

And some alcohol for a trip.

And you shot me in the stomach.

I was polishing...

My gun.

You were educated.

But stupider than myself.

Politically stupider.

They conned you.

An order is an order.

Still repeating this bullshit.

Now the martyrology begins.

What's that?

Talking about suffering and tortures.

I didn't know this word.

Martygology, martyrdom. You get it, Seagull?

My nickname was Raven.

I think

that you were a worse scumbag than me.

You knew how to talk smart

but you were scared shit.

Please, officer

don't get upset with me, I know some worse than you.

One of them talks on the radio

and writes!

Back in the days

he was referring to Zdhanov

and now he's quoting some...

Lady.

And Jan...

Kizior.

He was shit scared, and he was saying

that he was changing his consciousness

and his petit bourgeois habits.

Please, don't talk about simple people.

Simple people are no more.

No more.

In our country.

Raven.

Come closer.

Give me your hand.

No. What for?

Doesn't matter.

The revolution is over.

Yes, Raven. You won.

The lady that sleeps here

and the other people that visit you,

these are the new people?

The socialist people?

It's complicated.

You were always avoiding the topic.

Please don't be nervous.

Please think.

What? What are you doing here?

He is sitting for his leaving certificate.

Matriculation exam.

But why today?

He is already 40 years late.

I can't wait any longer.

Please get ready.

Please sit down.

Yes...

What can you tell me

about the annexation of Ruthenia?

With the death of King Daniel,

Ruthenia passed through a period of decline.

Although one of his sons

Szwarno, being Mengog's son-in-law

did briefly occupy the Lithuanian throne,

but of the other son Lion

the chronicles provide an unflattering account.

His reign was followed

by that of his son

Jerzy I, who

united the principalities of Wlodzimierz and Halicz.

His sons, Andrzej

and Lion II

of Halicz

lost Podlasie and Polesie in favour of Giedymin

but then entered into friendly relations

and one of Giedymin's sons,

Lubart

married

Busza, the daughter of Andrzej.

that is the sister of Aldona, the wife of Kazimierz the Great...

Excellent, brilliant.

Well done, young man.

You are splendidly prepared for life.

As a matter of fact, you've passed your exam

but I must put a few more questions to you.

You will understand that this is pure formality.

Do tell me,

what have you been reading recently?

A newspaper.

But what in particular?

The personal advice column.

Please describe in your own words.

A certain Marysia

fell in love

with Wacek, during her holidays.

They used to go out together.

But earlier on, Wacek,

whom Marysia loved

with the passion of the first love,

he used to go out with Jadzka.

Which fact he disguised from Marysia.

And then he was sent to the army.

I sent a letter to Wacek

that I was expecting a baby.

But Wacek did not reply

but wrote to me later

that he was expecting a baby from Jadzka,

who used to go out with Tadek.

I am sixteen, dear friend

and when I met Zenek

people point their finger at me in our little town.

Please advise me, dear friend, what am I to do.

What sort of life can I look forward to?

Yes...

You young ones are all set to enjoy life.

Fact, a sad fact...

And who is to do the suffering in this world?

That's right, professor.

How old are you, young man?

Splendid, young man.

Please remember:

The child is father of the man.

Thank you, I have no more questions.

Ah, but tell me on more thing:

why do we love Chopin?

Chopin hid guns amid flowers

and has popularized Poland's name in the world.

Yes, but what do you feel

when you listen to his music the whole year through?

I experience a deep gratitude to the composer.

How can they say our youth is cynical and indifferent.

Professor...

Come over here.

What is this?

A hand.

And this?

A fist.

Hand.

Hand, fist.

Fist.

One can use a hand to kill.

To strangle.

One can write a poem or a prescription.

One can fondle.

What is this?

An apple.

And this?

A button.

Can you lend me 500 zloty?

No.

Give what, tho' thou giv'st it often, is yours still

A signature, sir.

When wrinkles plough this face, and at last

The glass show thy gaze

that youth is past...

I adore Kochanowski.

Be not shy!

When the cat grows older,

the stiffer is his tail;

There is a journalist outside, he would like an interview.

Tomorrow.

He's been waiting a whole year.

You see, sir,

in our time speed of information matters.

Ah, I am so tired.

I am sleepy.

I'll get into bed.

Pity you were asleep.

Father was saying interesting things.

So you've got a father?

How strange.

And a mother.

No...

I can't imagine you

as an embryo.

So you were

as small as my little finger?

Just as small.

And then you were breast-fed?

I was bottle-fed.

And moustache?

When did you start growing a moustache?

And beard?

On Monday.

What a deep voice my little cockerel has...

Poor father.

Poor?

Tell me about your old man.

Had my father been a captain of a ship

a bishop

if he had a saber

a star, a ribbon

a stool, a crown

had he conquered America

or a peak...

In a word: had he differed from average ordinary people...

My dearest, people are not average.

Had he been different

from these ordinary average people

had he been a cannibal, a Lollobrigida,

an astronaut...

But he was an insignificant clerk

in a small provincial town, he was like me

like you, like all of us.

Such people

depart quickly.

One forgets them.

When I was a little boy

I dreamt of being a fireman.

I wanted to have a shiny helmet,

a belt and a hatchet.

I imagined

carrying a little girl out of a burning house

with people admiring me, thanking me,

and pinning a medal on me.

I ran around the courtyard

with my arm outstretched

and then it seemed to me that I was an aeroplane

or a pilot.

I was also

a tiny foal...

When I started school

my dreams changed.

I wanted to be a traveller,

a millionaire,

a poet or a saint.

And now?

Now I am always myself.

I travelled a long way

before I reached myself.

Yourself?

How are things over there? What is there?

Nothing.

Everything is

outside.

And there

are faces, trees, clouds...

the dead.

But this merely flows through me.

The horizon

narrows.

I see best when I close my eyes.

With eyes closed I can see.

Love, faith, truth...

I know nothing about that.

Yes.

That is how it is.

Eat it.

Tempt yourself.

He is asleep.

Men are terribly childish.

Always pursuing something.

And when they at last arrive at their goal,

they despair.

They are in a hurry.

They murder.

A seed would never have grown

inside them. They are careless.

None of them is capable of protecting a fruit for 9 months.

It's lucky it's us who carry and give birth to life.

They are...

born abstractionists.

There is

death in that.

He who in childhood...

- Quieter! - ...cut off Hydra's head...

Will in his youth the blood of Centaurs shed,

Will rescue victims of the Demon,

Will gather laurels up in Heaven.

Sir.

Sir!

- Wake up, it's me! - What? Who?

It's me.

I must put a few questions to you.

You? To me?

Yes, your secretary has doubtless mentioned...

You from the press?

Haven't you seen an apple here?

No.

Perhaps you've eaten this apple.

No, I haven't.

These aren't the only tricks you people are capable of.

I want to talk seriously.

With the approach of the New Year,

our Agency wishes to interview various celebrities.

- But also with ordinary... - Simple...

...exactly, with simple citizens.

Well?

Could you tell me your aim in life?

I have already achieved and...

now it's rather difficult to say.

Are you glad to be alive?

Yes.

And why?

How should I know?

Then who should know?

I have no idea.

Is there anything you still wish to achieve?

I have various plans.

I would naturally wish...

Although...

That are your political views?

Who's got political views at five in the morning?

He's mad.

He wants me to have views at dawn.

First one has to

wash, dress, brush teeth,

change a shirt, put on a tie and pull up one's trousers

and then come opinions.

I see. Do you believe in salvation?

Yes.

Up to a certain point.

Funny question.

If I'm not mistaken, you are an ordinary person?

Yes.

Do you know that

you hold the fate of the world in your hands?

Up to a point.

What do you intend

to maintain peace in the world?

Do you realize

that in the event of nuclear war humanity will perish?

Naturally, naturally.

And what are you doing to prevent the explosion?

Nothing.

But surely, you love humanity?

Naturally.

But why?

I don't know yet.

It's difficult to say.

It's only five in the morning.

Perhaps if you drop in around midday

I might know.

I haven't learnt much here.

You've come too late.

Subs by Beleco