A week in the life of a middle-aged man. An important week. It is the week that prosecutor Adam Borowski sells his flat and buys a house; it is the week his book is released; his wife receives a prestigious award for her charity work; the choir in which he sings prepares for a major foreign tour.
It is also the week Adam finds out his mother is terminally ill and only very costly treatment can save her; the tax fraud he committed when donating money to the Orphanage is discovered; his wife's charity organization goes bankrupt; there's no way of backing out from the house purchase deal...
This week, in a twist of fate, his court cases will be reflected in his life. It will turn out that it is easier to accuse others than to make the right choices yourself. The film is divided into seven parts, corresponding to successive days of the week.
"No longer the old 'intelligentsia', though he practices an intelligentsia profession, and not yet the 'middle class', though he aspires to it. There is no question about that; he is about to buy a house. When the financial capacity is not great, this is an unfailing sign of such aspirations; it's embarrassing to live 'in the blocks'... He is almost a philanthropist; he earmarks the royalties from his book for charity, but his aim is a tax deduction. He has a lover, in a completely non-intelligentsia option: she waits for him twice a week, undressed in a boarding house bed, but he dumps her because 'he doesn't want to hurt his wife'; the real reason is that the house purchase has cleaned out his wallet. A principled anti-communist, he doesn't allow his wife, who runs a charity foundation, to accept a donation from a businessman linked to a leftist party; but he hates the communists mainly because he was not given a promotion in People's Poland.
This man does have something that brings him in contact with another dimension, though: he loves music, and sings in a very good choir. He intertwines his vile little deeds, his ups and downs, with meetings with true beauty that he helps create". (Bożena Janicka, "Kino" 1999)
"Jerzy Stuhr's film is a picture deeply rooted in Polish reality, offering an in-depth analysis of the condition of the present-day intelligentsia, showing the dilemmas of people who matured under different circumstances, and today are trying to find their way around the new reality. Stuhr asks the most important questions, the kind we have become disaccustomed from. The question 'What is the most important thing in life?' sounds the same in many places of the world". (Barbara Hollender, "Rzeczpospolita" 1999)
- Tydzień z życia mężczyzny / A Week in the Life of a Man, Poland, 1999. Screenplay and directed by Jerzy Stuhr, director of photography: Edward Kłosiński, music by Wojciech Kilar, production design: Monika Sajko-Gradowska, sound: Marek Wronko, Katarzyna Dzida, film editor: Elżbieta Kurkowska. Featuring: Jerzy Stuhr (Adam Borowski), Gosia Dobrowolska (Anna Borowska), Danuta Szaflarska (Borowski's Mother), Alex Możdżyński (Dominik), Krzysztof Stroiński (Oleś), Jacek Romanowski (Manager of the Orphanage), Maciej Niesiołowski (Conductor), Anna Samusionek (Journalist), Karina Kunkiewicz (Reporter), Janusz Michałowski (Doctor), Małgorzata Drozd (Doctor). Produced by Studio Filmowe ZEBRA, Telewizja Polska, Agencja Produkcji Filmowej. Color, 35 mm. Duration: 89 min.
Awards:
- Jury's Special Prize and the Association of Polish Filmmakers Award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia '99
- OCIC Award at the IFF in Venice '99
- Nominated for a Polish Film Award in eleven categories, including best film, best screenplay, best director, and best actor.
Author: Joanna Pawluśkiewicz, December 2006