fiction / 2004 / Poland / col. / 101 min.
The daughter of a local wealthy man, who is well aware of the power of money, is getting married and her wedding becomes a pretext for a dark grotesque about limitless obsession with money. The groom is won over with a luxury car, but the supplier demands a balance due right away. As the wedding guests feast, the father gets entangled into complex transactions and has to bribe the notary, policemen and eventually the priest in order to escape the clutches of a cold-blooded calculating gangster – all of that in the midst of a wild and later unrestrained party intensifying along with the drunkenness of the gluttonous wedding guests. The suggestive rhythm of scenes and dialogue matching the music production are referential of Forman’s firefighter ball, as well as parallel images from the eponymous film by Wajda. While Wyspiański’s villagers were bewitched by a vision of battle for national freedom, Smarzowski’s villagers revel in jealousy, greed, Schadenfreude and vicious tricks.
Director: Wojtek Smarzowski
Screenplay: Wojtek Smarzowski
Photography: Andrzej Szulkowski
Editor: Paweł Laskowski
Music: Tymon Tymański
Cast: Marian Dziędziel, Tamara Arciuch, Iwona Bielska, Maciej Stuhr, Bartłomiej Topa, Paweł Wilczak, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Jerzy Rogalski, Elżbieta Jarosik, Lech Dyblik