The Noose (Pętla / Smyčka)

Jerzy Has’ debut was based on Marek Hłasek’s famous short story “The First Step in the Clouds.” The protagonist was based on Władysław Broniewski, a Polish poet, alcoholic and Hłasek’s friend. The film tells the story of one day in the life of the painter Kuba. We follow a distorted world somewhere between reality and a dream, which is like a cracked mirror that, despite many attempts, cannot be glued back together. Everything works against the protagonist. His greatest enemies, however, are his own fears, which relentlessly tighten the noose around his neck. According to the critics, it was already in this film that the director’s style was formulated. Here he used elements that would become a hallmark of his later films, including the motif of the outsider, the city, windows, mirrors and the pub. The main motif, however, is time, in which “past problems overlap with the present and the subconscious interferes with reality.”

Iwona Łyko Plos

screening with dual subtitles (English and Czech)