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My name is Walerian Borowczyk.
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00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:40,560
I am a dead Polish filmmaker.
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00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:49,800
I lived my entire life
in a box with a hole.
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00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,280
It all began in Poland
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00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:01,480
a little before my birth.
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00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:06,320
AFORETIME
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When my father met my mother,
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00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,440
she and her sister
were playing their favourite game:
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00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:15,000
the game of Angels.
10
00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:21,120
The game consisted
of letting yourself die a little,
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in order to catch a glimpse
of angels' feet.
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00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:28,160
Or, with a bit of luck, their arses.
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00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:59,760
BESTIALITY
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00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:32,720
My father was a force of nature.
15
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But he could rein in his bestiality
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and turn it into sweet poetry.
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00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:52,040
COURTING
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00:04:56,280 --> 00:04:58,200
To seduce my mother,
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my father
became as one with nature.
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00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:17,880
For my mother and father
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00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:20,360
it was love at first sight.
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00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:23,640
He whispered in her ear,
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"Come, butterfly, taste my flowers."
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She gave herself to him
unrestrainedly.
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One could say that I was born
of the fortuitous encounter
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between a flower and a butterfly.
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00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:46,080
DISAPPOINTMENT
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00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,200
When my mother was pregnant,
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they organised a discreet wedding.
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00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:22,320
My grandfather wept tears of joy.
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00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:34,280
My father's heart
took flight in endless song.
32
00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:33,560
On the wedding day,
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my mother was the victim
of an unfortunate fall.
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00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,720
She fell from her chair
at the end of the meal.
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00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,760
I have a very clear memory
of that fall.
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00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:22,320
The memory of an endless waltz
with my mother.
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00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,320
I was born suddenly,
without warning.
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00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:22,800
ENTRAPPED
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00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:11,080
Despite everything,
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00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,520
I was the spitting image
of my father.
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00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:22,720
They had to face facts:
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I was not what you would call
a chubby-cheeked
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and bonny baby.
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00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:38,520
Scarcely freed
from my mother's womb,
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00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:42,560
I found myself
entrapped in my own body.
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I soon realised
that I was entrapped in a body,
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which itself was entrapped
in a house,
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itself entrapped in a country.
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FUMES
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I grew up
in the shade of apple trees
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by the railway line.
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When I started walking,
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my grandfather
could no longer get around.
54
00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:17,440
So he showed me
the smoke of the trains,
55
00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:19,560
and he wept.
56
00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:39,800
His tears were salty
with the flavour of smoky rose.
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00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:47,080
GRATUITOUS
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00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:53,280
My father
would often take me with him
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00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,120
on his Sunday excursions.
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00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:00,000
He did not speak much.
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00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:06,480
On the journey
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I would listen
to the regular rubbing of his legs.
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00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:11,040
Sometimes
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I would hear him piss
as he walked.
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00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,800
"Mustn't waste time," he would say.
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00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,600
Above all else,
my father loved bird watching.
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Birds of all sizes and colours,
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with or without feathers.
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00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:04,960
Soon
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I too started to take great pleasure
in watching birds.
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00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:15,480
HABITS
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00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:27,240
Returning from these walks,
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I drew birds with no clothes on.
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00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:34,160
My mother was amazed
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at my talent for drawing
birds with no clothes on.
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00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:16,280
After meals,
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my father often suffered headaches.
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No one dared disturb him.
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"The trains,
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"the trains..."
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he would say.
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00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:51,920
The day I consoled Olga,
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I discovered all the possibilities
offered by my cubic body.
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00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:14,840
I also discovered those gentle
85
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and understanding creatures
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with all manner of orifices,
which we call birds.
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00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:13,640
JOY
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00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:18,440
Exploring Olga
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I would lose myself.
90
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:23,680
And the more I lost myself,
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the more she enjoyed it.
92
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,440
Then it was her I lost sight of.
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She flew away
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00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:40,640
the day war came,
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with its cortege of woe and noise.
96
00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:03,680
After the war
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I was a student.
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00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:06,440
My body had changed.
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00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:09,840
I was free.
100
00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,360
In a country in ruins.
101
00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:31,200
It was as a student
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that I thought I glimpsed Olga
at a bend in the road.
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Her clothes were red,
104
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as if they held all her blood.
105
00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,920
All around her the walls wept.
106
00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:22,800
My taste for literature, painting
and the graphic arts
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had given me wings.
108
00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:31,480
But a nasty fall left me bedridden,
in danger of losing my sight.
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00:22:56,360 --> 00:22:58,720
It was while lying inert in my bed
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that I decided to make films.
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00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:06,880
My father gave me
a rudimentary camera.
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It was a revelation.
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00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:56,520
As I could not go out,
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I first wanted to see
the inside of things.
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00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:19,080
MORTALITY
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00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,280
It was death
that brought me back to my parents.
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00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:22,960
When my grandfather died,
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I realised how close we had been.
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I wished I could taste,
one last time,
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his salty rose tears.
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00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:58,560
NAKED
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00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:17,920
The night of the funeral vigil,
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I saw my mother fly away.
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00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:27,920
In spite of the years,
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her body
was in miraculously good shape.
126
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Her lover stood in the field,
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upright, erect,
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taut as a bow.
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00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,120
My mother climbed onto the beast.
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00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:49,600
PORNOGRAPHER
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Her feet balancing on her perch,
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she let her lover graze.
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00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,840
My sense of decency
made me look away.
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00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:21,120
QUARREL
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00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:23,480
To make a start in cinema,
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I made use of Jan Lenica
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and his contacts.
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00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:32,800
Together we put our names
to my first films.
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00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:37,480
Then we quarrelled.
140
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,000
Today I have erased
from my memory
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that upstart, talentless filmmaker.
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REVERENCE
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It was at the same time
that I met Ligia,
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my muse,
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my bird,
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00:28:58,000 --> 00:28:59,400
my actress...
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But, out of a sense of decency,
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I shall say nothing about her.
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SOUVENIR
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I remember the day I left Poland.
151
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My father saw me off on the train.
152
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Too sad,
153
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my mother stayed at home.
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00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:30,360
For my departure,
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my father had the horse slaughtered.
156
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:42,240
With the remains of the animal
he made a costume.
157
00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:45,080
"It'll be good for your films,"
he said.
158
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:50,680
I thought of my mother,
weeping alone in the house.
159
00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:58,520
In order to save money,
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00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,400
I travelled in a goods carriage.
161
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:06,480
On the train to Paris
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I met the person
who would become my assistant.
163
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:42,560
I have a fuzzy memory
of my first homosexual experience.
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00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:47,160
TAKE
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In Paris, without money,
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I shot my first films,
one image at a time.
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00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:21,240
They were a success,
168
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,560
and I was given
more film to work with.
169
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I shot longer and longer films,
170
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directing actors
with and without costumes.
171
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:02,520
I built the sets with my own hands,
leaving nothing to chance.
172
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:08,880
I wanted to attain grace.
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00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,080
All the films I shot
form but one film.
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00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:38,360
UNANIMOUS
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At first the critics
were unanimously positive.
176
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Then it turned
into a continuous stream of piss.
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00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:10,240
They held against me
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00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,440
my pornography, my systematisation,
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00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:15,920
my Polish accent, my pretentiousness,
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00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:18,760
my temper, my obsessions,
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00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:20,120
my bad taste,
182
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,080
my mannerism
and my gratuitous violence.
183
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:27,200
Some of my films were called vulgar.
184
00:34:28,720 --> 00:34:30,480
I don't see why.
185
00:34:31,240 --> 00:34:35,640
VULGARITY
186
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In France,
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I became a specialist
of 'featherweight films',
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using a skeleton crew
to make increasingly spare erotic films.
189
00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:20,200
I made a name for myself,
190
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:22,600
which was forgotten.
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00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:51,640
My cinema caught a disease.
192
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:55,240
No one wanted to see it any more.
193
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:04,040
YEARNING
194
00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:10,640
Despite everything,
I remained true to my inspiration.
195
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:14,400
Without knowing
where it would lead me.
196
00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:33,240
ZEPHYR
197
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:23,080
When I returned to Poland,
it was by car.
198
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:27,440
It was the last time
I saw my parents.
199
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:29,160
It was night.
200
00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:33,720
We blew on the embers,
talking about the past.
201
00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:38,960
A warm wind filled our hearts.
202
00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:56,240
My parents never saw
my French films.
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That was Walerian Borowczyk.
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00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:14,160
Subtitling by TITRA FILM Paris
13228
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