Kalina Jędrusik in "A Cure for Love", dir. Jan Batory
Jędrusik is considered a cult actress who managed to influence social conventions of the 1960s with her original beauty, provocative make-up, seductive gaze, sensuous voice and, above all, by her warm-blooded personality.
Still, the actress's biography shows that beauty, talent and success do not necessarily equal sunshine and roses. Despite her vast skills Kalina Jędrusik was not showered with theatre offers and most film directors gave her rather undemanding, "decorative" parts. Nevertheless she managed to create a number of unforgettable roles thanks to which she will always be remembered in the history of Polish cinema. Her greatest films include "The Promised Land" by Andrzej Wajda, "Jovita" by Janusz Morgenstern, "Those Who Are Late" by Jan Rybkowski and the crime comedy "A Cure for Love".
Jędrusik's film roles are revisited at Cinema Iluzjon 5-27 August 2011, as part of the review "Stars of Polish Cinema: Kalina Jędrusik (1931-1991)".
The actress was born 5 February 1931 in Częstochowa. After finishing drama school in Krakow in 1953, she worked at the Wybrzeże Theatre where she was quickly noticed after playing in her first plays. She attracted the attention of Stanisław Dygat in particular, an already well-known writer who soon became her husband. Subsequent parts in shows by Giraudoux and Brecht, which Jędrusik played already in Warsaw, and most importantly the songs she performed in Jeremi Przybora's and Jerzy Wasowski's television show "Kabaret Starszych Panów" / "Old Gentlemen's Cabaret" won her acclaim and huge popularity. Just as you thought further success was only a matter of time, Kalina Jędrusik became criticised for "provocative and erotic" means of expression and for her interpretations being too "passionate". In the beginning of the 1960s after Jędrusik's appearance at a television concert transmitted live, where she wore a tight-fitted dress with a low neckline and a cross hanging on her neck, the wife of the First Secretary Władysław Gomułka succeeded in ending the "shocker's" television career. The actress did not get many theatre offers; she appeared infrequently and with varied luck. She gave a lot of concerts and played in films but usually "decorative" bit parts and minor yet charming comedy roles ("Heat", "Cure for Love"). Jędrusik showed her talent in "Those Who Are Late" (1962) and "Jovita" (1967), both adaptations of Stanisław Dygat's prose in which she created subtle, elusive portraits of women lost in their emotional lives. Only in 1974 did Jędrusik get a chance to show other unexpected acting skills performing in "The Promised Land". Her part in that film is still considered one of the boldest performances in the history Polish cinema. Sill, neither publicity nor her excellent theatre roles (George Sand, Catherine the Great), which proved that Jędrusik could play strong, independent and passionate women who influenced the fates of artists and the world, were able to bring her any more serious offers- apart from one, the part of Józefina Polan in a German series "The Polans' Hotel and Their Guests". Jędrusik played several supporting roles in the 1980s. Krzysztof Kieślowski's "The Double Life of Veronique", where she performed the part a singing teacher, turned out to be her last film. Jędrusik did not live to watch her last appearance; she died suddenly on 7 August 1991 in Warsaw.
Jędrusik left a beautiful collection of female portraits, one of the most significant and captivating in Polish theatre, film and song.
5 August at 20:00: "Ferdydurke" / "30 Door Key", dir. Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/France 1991;
6 August at 20:00: "Hanussen", dir. Istvan Szabó, Hungary, West Germany 1988;
7 August at 18:00: "Lekarstwo na miłość" / "Cure for Love" , dir. Jan Batory, Poland 1966;
7 August at 20:00: "Jowita" / "Jovita", dir. Janusz Morgenstern, Poland 1967;
8 August at 18:00: "Ewa chce spać" / "Eve Wants to Sleep", dir. Tadeusz Chmielewski, Poland 1957;
8 August at 20:00: "O-bi, o-ba. Koniec cywilizacji" / "O-Bi, O-Ba –The End of Civilization", dir. Piotr Szulkin, Poland 1984;
9 August at 18:15: "Niewinni czarodzieje" / "Innocent Sorcerers", dir. Andrzej Wajda, Poland 1960;
9 August at 20:00: "Podwójne życie Weroniki" / "The Double Life of Veronique", dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski, Poland/France 1991;
10 August at 18:00: "Spóźnieni przechodnie" / "Those Who Come Late", dir. Jan Rybkowski, Poland 1962;
11 August at 18:15: "Upał" / "Heat", dir. Kazimierz Kutz, Poland 1964;
12 August at 18:00: "Jak być kochaną" / "How To Be Loved", dir. Wojciech J. Has, Poland 1962;
27 August at 18.00, "Podwójne życie Weroniki" / "The Double Life of Veronique", dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski, Poland/France 1991.
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