Chopin. Pragnienie milosci

A few films have been made about Chopin, they are all excellent, since the subject demands serious honesty; but they are all American or English. This is entirely Polish, there are only Polish names in the cast, and the crew also seems to be entirely Polish, and it is all filmed on location. As a Polish film about their greatest son it is naturally of great interest, and it is a pleasure to observe that all the actors live up to the challenge: Piotr Adamczyk and Danuta Stenka are quite convincing as Chopin and George Sand, and for once here is a film that includes her children, especially Adam Woronowicz makes a great performance as her son Maurice but also Bozena Stachura as her daughter Solange manages well. You could object to all the sleazy details about their private lives, there might be some exaggerations here, although the film shows a great ambition to stick as closely as possible to the truth. Only Michal Konarski as Franz Liszt is not convincing but is made something of a caricature of, while several important parts are missing, most of all Chopin's teacher (made so prominent by Paul Muni in the 1945 film) and Alfred de Musset (made so real by Andy Patinkin in the 1991 film), and you might object against the lack of coherence in the film, which is rather like a collage of impressions, but the flashbacks are wonderful, and the music, which is all Chopin's, saves the film.