A church bell chimes. An old woman stops to feed pidgins on her way to work in the men's lavatory in the basement of a public building. She sits all day by the lavatory door as little dramas... Read allA church bell chimes. An old woman stops to feed pidgins on her way to work in the men's lavatory in the basement of a public building. She sits all day by the lavatory door as little dramas play out -- of illness, assignation, and routine -- a few tips her only acknowledgment. T... Read allA church bell chimes. An old woman stops to feed pidgins on her way to work in the men's lavatory in the basement of a public building. She sits all day by the lavatory door as little dramas play out -- of illness, assignation, and routine -- a few tips her only acknowledgment. The sound of footsteps on the floor above her brings a reverie of her youth, when she was a... Read all
- Young woman
- (as Barbara Kwiatkowski)
- Meter Man
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
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Featured reviews
I've never heard of a female attendant in a men's lavatory, but that's what we have here. It's a depressing job, one in which one usually sits all day and has hour to contemplate. For this old woman, it was unpleasant memories of the past as each new customer reminds her of something tragic in her past.
The acting in here was poor but I'm sure young Polanski didn't have much of a budget to work with. It wasn't exactly like working with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.
Like most of his short films, there is little to no dialog.....but it's really not needed. However, the sudden scene shifts from her apparent memories to scenes which she couldn't have witnessed (i.e. World War I battle scenes) were confusing. Maybe it just didn't get it. However, I appreciated the sentimentality in here, even if I didn't understand some of it.
To those who haven't seen any of Polanski's short films, be warned: this is quite different from films you are used to seeing. They used to have "art houses" where they would show "arty" films like this. I wonder if they are still around?
Some reviewers considered this very distinct among the other movies of Polanski, either earlier or made after. I dare to relate it to Nóż w Wodzie though (as I did with the other earlier films). Again there are the two worlds. Ours, remembered in twenty minutes, when you are too old and too aware that no hopes fulfill, no dreams come true, life is just nothingness. And theirs, the ones that live in another universe and come sometimes to visit us. And their visit makes sense to us only when no hopes, no dreams can support us anymore. Angels come only when you are too aware about the nothingness of your life. And they come exactly there, in the nothingness of your life.
Paul Tillich was right: you find God only after you have lost all.
The only thing she wanted was to be loved. But never was. A film about intolerance. It shows the intolerance of homeless, gays and different believers. And like a lot of his short movies do, it gives us a good impression of the big hate he had to the communist system.
The visual was impressive. The miniature town was ugly though, but gave a good effect, even in his young days Roman Polanski managed the art of visualising. The movie must have cost some money because of the war scenes, the costumes was not near the real thing, but did the job well.
I loved the picture where you see the young main character making her way down to the town. Beautiful picture.
Watch and enjoy ;)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
An elderly woman works a lousy job but she's capable of seeing things like no other. This short from Polanski has a lot of good moments but it really doesn't work well enough for the running time. The use of color was nicely done and the war scenes were very good.
Lamp, The (1959)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Surreal film from Roman Polanski about a doll maker. There's really no "story" here but instead we get various strange images. The images are nice but overall the film somewhat drags.
Fat and the Lean, The (1961)
** (out of 4)
Another Polanski short has him playing "Lean", a servant to the "Fat" man. I guess this thing was trying to be funny but it certainly wasn't. Some nice camera-work however.
Did you know
- TriviaThe idea for Roman Polanski's short movie (his diploma piece from Lodz Szkola Filmowa and his first one in color) was taken from a short story "Klozet Babcia", written by Leszek Szymanski and published weekly "Kierunki" in Warsaw, Poland.
Details
- Runtime21 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1