A YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN
music
stage design
camera
screenplay and director
Let it be! Don’t touch. It’s clean.
Clean? Just take a look yourself.
- It will suppurate. - It won’t, it already is.
- Let it be. - It must be dressed.
Look, it’s rotting already. Leave it.
Mom, it may be gangrene. Look away.
It will be gangrene.
I want nothing more. I’ve had enough of this life.
It’s not for us to judge, mom.
You used to say it yourself.
So what if I did?
Who is to judge?
Let’s leave it to God.
Why should we leave it to God?
If Christ died on the cross because he wanted and not because he had to,
why can’t we die when we want to?
It’s going to be all right, mom.
- Let’s go! - All together now!
All together!
No.
Thank you.
Thank you, this way.
Thank you so much.
It’s here, thank you very much.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
He is a Fritz. She consorts with a Fritz.
Maybe she doesn’t consort with him, maybe she has some business with him?
I know it too well. It is all so clear.
She should get her head shaved.
Nobody shaves heads these days, mom.
And a German is also a human being.
Who is she to meet?
I know well that you say this just to tease me, Emilia.
- I don’t. - You justify everyone.
And this means you don’t believe in any justice.
- It’s better to justify than to judge. - I don’t think so.
She should get her head shaved and that’s the end of the story.
May I borrow matches?
I’ve run out of them.
- Where is...? - Yes, it’s here.
Yes, come, come.
Ah, it’s there.
Come in.
Good evening.
- Mother. - Mother...
- Do you speak French? - No.
What a pity.
Thank you.
Emilia, invite the gentleman.
Please, sit down.
Please.
Who is he, English, American?
I can’t see him.
Good evening.
He’s probably a member of the committee.
So much ado about a few killed airmen.
While millions of our people were killed and...
Mom.
Her husband. He is dead. Kaputt.
Mom!
Now he’s going to show us pictures.
This is the way it always starts at our neighbour's.
- Home. - Home...
Kaput.
- Radio. - Radio?
Kaput.
Kaput?
You’re very nice, soldier.
If I weren’t so old...
Do you miss your home? America?
You have nobody to miss.
Mom...
- Are you matchmaking? - I have to before I die.
You’ll live for many years.
Mom, please, try.
Very good.
Original.
- What? Pork? - Yes, pork, sweet.
Mom, what is “pork”?
In French it means “pig”.
Check the dictionary.
- Yes. - Sweet pork.
Swinnaja tuszonka.
What?
- What “tushonka”? - “Svinnaya”.
- Mom... - Don’t you remember?
You have very nice legs.
Alone?
Not anymore.
Thank you.
Mother...
Here you are.
Goodnight.
I’ll be right back.
Please, please.
Please.
Maybe it’s somebody from the shop.
Opposite.
We don’t have anything.
Mom.
Are you at your own home?
Get out! Or I’ll call for help!
Call, mommy, call.
You can speak like this to your equals!
The gentlemen will see we don’t have anything and they’ll go away.
Don’t call, don’t call,
- or Santa Clause will come. - Leave it!
He will spank you...
You’re like the Gestapo, scoundrels!
Hey! That wasn’t nice. Watch your tongue.
- Where is the money? - We don’t have any.
Flea.
Talk to mommy, Flea.
Leave her!
Money...
- Money... - Flea, stop!
Here it is, Kiddy.
And one more.
Oh, you, Kiddy, Kiddy, don’t,
she’s an old hag.
And no complaints.
Kiddy, Kiddy, Kiddy.
Why did you give it to them, I would have stood it.
They’d have killed you, mom.
And it would have been very well so.
No, no.
God is born, the powers quake.
Lord of Heavens is naked, Fire freezes, light darkens,
the infinite has boundaries. Laughed at though in his glory,
mortal king of all ages,
and the word...
Thank you.
Yes.
I have to... I have to bake the cake, I promised for tomorrow.
Take it and say thank you.
Thank you so much.
It will save us, I’ll make chocolate glazing.
Thank you so much.
They certainly pissed themselves again.
- This one! This one! - Ah, yes.
Turn around!
I don’t have the time, I have to take it somewhere.
Get in, please. We’ll give you a ride
- and we’ll talk later on. - But why?
Do come inside, please.
- What have you got there? - Anything good?
Why did you bring so little?
When will there be more?
My God, I am trying my best.
People, let me be!
The gentleman wants to tell you something but it is difficult for him.
He says that you’re young and you have someone.
I don’t see anything funny.
No, we can’t go on like this. No.
How?
We don’t stand a chance.
Please, don’t come.
Achtung.
Stillgestanden...
Hände hoch! Hände ins Genick!
Abteilung kehrt!
Raus!
Get lost! You...
Take it! Bitte! Please!
I am warning you. Calm down!
Pay!
Pay for everything.
More. More!
Pay for... I mean...
It’s not enough. You’ve not... given. Pay for...
- For? - All the times.
- How many times? You...
Pay, please.
Please, pay for all the times.
Forgive me, please.
Go away! Go away, scoundrel!
Lovers’ quarrel.
- I don’t regret her at all. - Mom.
Has he hurt you?
Get lost, will you?
Anything serious?
He got his migration documents to Germany and it turned out that
- he is married. - In Germany?
It doesn’t matter.
She might be dead by now. It doesn’t change anything,
according to his passport he is married.
Maybe it’s for the best.
Do you think you’d be so happy abroad?
But it’s not the point,
I wanted to start everything from scratch.
I wanted to change my name
so that nobody would know who I was.
I would remove it.
Leave just a scar.
But I will take my revenge.
If you help me I’ll get him.
He knows where the graves of the airmen are.
He said it at some point, he thought I couldn’t understand it,
but I did.
Now one just has to go there and notify them.
Why don’t you go?
They’d ask what I do.
And how I came to know him. And then...
But it must be said or no one will ever know.
You’ll just say that he knows.
It will be enough.
They’ll take his papers and he will reveal it all.
I’ll go with you.
We’ll go together.
Parents, girlfriend.
OK.
What? What happened?
- What? What is it? - Nothing, mom, nothing.
I felt so... Nothing.
Really nothing.
Go to bed.
- Right now, please. - I’m OK, mom.
Go to bed. Now, now, now. Come on.
Yes.
Well, that’s better.
Father.
I don’t know what to stick to, father.
As if everything got mixed up.
Does a man have the right to be happy, father?
Does everyone have this right?
Or maybe some do and some don’t, father?
Everyone has the right to happiness if only one doesn’t harm others
and it agrees with their conscience.
Yes, yes, maybe it isn’t worthwhile
to ponder upon it but I don’t know,
I don’t know what I should do. What is right?
I am past all this.
I gave up, I resigned myself to it.
I had a husband, father. Just for a few months.
I loved him, I still do.
I know he’s dead but I still hope,
I hope that...
This hope used to... give me strength.
And now, father, I just don’t know.
I don’t know...
I don’t know if I may want to be
with a man I don’t know. Because I don’t know him.
Father, I can’t even
communicate with him.
Bring him here.
There is a nun here who speaks English.
Thank you.
Sister, tell him that there is no legal possibility,
I would have to wait for the court ruling
so that my husband could be officially considered deceased
and it may last several months, maybe even years.
I have said it already, should I repeat it?
No, no.
He said that he had the money to
get you across the border.
- Yes, yes. - for you and your mother.
Sister, tell him that
it would be hard for me to leave now, very hard.
We kept on wandering during the war, I missed my country all that time.
I... I can’t...
Well, I know it is going to be hard now, probably harder and harder,
but happiness is not to...
It doesn’t depend on where one lives but on how one lives.
No, excuse me, don’t translate it.
Can he stay in Poland?
No, what would he do here?
Emilia!
I’m not sleeping.
Mom, would you leave with me?
No, but...
you must go, absolutely.
Maybe I’ll join you later. I’m old, they’ll let me go.
But you must go, you're young.
If you want me to, I’ll naturally go.
Mom! Mom!
Do you think we can wake her up?
We would be able to get it done immediately,
she knows someone who arranges such matters.
Do you think she is awake?
Mom!
No, with legs like these... you must understand.
You have to walk through bumpy terrain for some 14 kilometres.
And you have a cold as well?
Well, just a bit.
Maybe if somebody carried you piggyback.
No, it won’t work. And there is no turning back for you.
You know if one person, excuse my French, fails
the whole group ends up in the can, not to mention me.
So you must understand...
Maybe your daughter can get you there somehow later on.
And how much do you charge for one person?
Half. $100.
$100? It was supposed to pay for us both.
It was supposed to but, you know,
the risk increases and so does the price.
I may get hanged for it after all, my dear lady.
How much deposit would you like to get?
Well, you pay all up front.
Could you come tomorrow when my daughter is...
Come the day after tomorrow in the morning.
OK, OK.
- Well, I’ll be off. - Oh, Jesus.
Goodbye.
Jesus, Mary, you’ll catch cold!
Shall I close it?
No, no, leave it open.
And some pork scratchings, thank you very much.
- One portion, please. - Dumplings, right?
Dumplings.
Oh, I don’t have change, my dear. Get back to me in a while
- and remind me about it. - OK.
- Do you want some? - Dumplings, please.
Sit down, please.
Do sit down.
Please, sit down.
Let’s get back to our chat, if you don’t mind.
I am not sure if you know that she used to sleep with that German,
that neighbour of yours, even though... you knew she had
- on her hand a... - No, sir,
I don’t care at all about her plans.
Plans?
It’s not about plans, it is about memory.
Do you know how she survived the concentration camp?
She worked in a brothel for the SS-men.
Dear sir, do not judge anyone.
Thank you.
Nie, no.
- Tak, yes. - No!
It’s no good.
It’s there, doctor.
Later. You better come tomorrow.
Breathe.
Do not breathe.
We must find penicillin.
Where, doctor?
Wherever we can.
No, no, please, I’ll do it myself.
Don’t stare, leave.
Close the door. I’ll call you.
We’ll go.
You’ll take us, soldier.
To America.
I’ve seen this movie once.
"Stagecoach".
Mountains, rocks.
To the very horizon.
Gallop.
Will you have something to drink, mom?
Mom.
Mom!
Emilia.
Emilia! Emilia!!
I didn’t tell you everything about myself.
I know.
How do you know?
It doesn’t matter. It’s over now.
One must... one must start everything from scratch.
- You said it yourself. - From scratch...
That guy stole everything I had.
Everything I saved to get across the border.
But who did it?
A guy I had when your mother was dying.
I left him alone in the room and he snatched it all.
He must have noticed where I hid it.
Was there a lot?
It would have been enough to get me smuggled across the border.
Do you think I made a lot of money this way?
My mother paid the guide for the two of us.
You can take her place.
- Aren’t you lying? - I am not.
Aren’t you lying?
Emilia, you won’t change your mind, tell me.
I won’t.
I am the daughter of that old lady, she paid for us both.
You know, where we bake cakes.
I don’t like sweets anyway.
- Did you take the money? - From you?
Well, not from me but for me. You took it, stop fibbing.
Let’s say I did. So what?
So the matter is this,
my mother died and instead of her.
- Oh... - somebody else will go.
- She lives next door to us. - That whore?
Let’s say. Does it make any difference?
No, none.
Do we have a deal?
Well, we do.
- Is she healthy? Strong? - As strong as myself.
Really?
It doesn’t make any difference to me which one goes.
What do you mean – which one?
Your mommy paid for one person.
I told her the price was higher because the risk was bigger,
and your mommy said she would stay.
She said she was ill and she wouldn’t stand such a long voyage.
You know, she probably had a premonition that she would not live long.
Come, help me hold him! He has a seizure!
Have you got a hanky?
My God!
OK.
What is it all for? Why do you do it? You don’t have to.
Are you crazy? I don’t do it for the money.
I just wanted to do something good.
He doesn’t have anyone.
He is very attached to me.
I am sorry to leave him.
I didn’t tell anyone, even him.
OK.
Can you imagine what it’ll be like when he comes
and we’re not here?
He’ll feel cheated.
Well, he will.
But what am I to do?
Should I stay for him?
Try to explain it to him.
But he will tell everyone.
Well, right.
So I will explain it to him when you’re abroad.
What? And what about you?
I am staying.
What do you mean you’re staying?
I’ll give you a letter for him, you’ll take it.
What do you mean?
Well, when you make enough money, you’ll pay me back.
Emilia, and you... do you mean that you’ll stay and I’ll go?
Yes, I’ll give you his address in Berlin.
Are you sane? Norman will be here in two days’ time.
Well, he will and I won’t...
I won’t tell him. Or maybe I will.
Emilia, what’s changed?
My mother made a gift for me.
And I don’t want to accept it.
I can see you.
What do you see?
If you think you’ll go with him
without the approval of the authorities...
You have no authority over me.
You just think so.
Hello?
Just a moment.
It’s the old people’s home, I am calling about the transfer.
Can you give me any information?
The interested person is coming but she doesn’t hear well.
Excuse me?
I am the Mother Superior. Yes.
Mrs Emilia!
But is it an inheritance or a donation?
How should I understand it?
I know it’s from the States.
But what kind of money is it?
Excuse me?
- I have just finished. - Is it some misunderstanding?
- It’s not for me? - No, it’s for you.
The whole amount.
Unless you want to share your joy with others.
But it belongs to you - the whole amount.
You can go to the States.
Naturally, I said I didn’t think you’d like that.
Who is it from, sister?
I didn’t get it but from the States.
If you go in person, they’ll explain everything in the consulate.
They said you could get a part of it in dollars in cash,
if you wanted to go to the States but I doubt...
Why do you doubt, sister?
I’ll go.
Sister, please, call a cab to Warsaw, I am going today.
How much will a cab to Warsaw cost?
What? Some 300?
300...
I’ll go.
Thank you, sister. Thank you.
Thank you so much. I’ll take it myself, it’s light.
- What happened? - Nothing. Nothing, sister, I’m sorry.
- Maybe I... - Take it, sister, thank you so much.
Thank you. I’m coming.
I’m coming, sister. Thank you so much.
I’m coming, sister. I’m coming.