Love Stories
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| Love Stories | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Jerzy Stuhr |
| Produced by | Jacek Bromski Juliusz Machulski Jacek Moczydlowski |
| Written by | Jerzy Stuhr |
| Starring | Jerzy Stuhr Dominika Ostalowska |
| Music by | Adam Nowak |
| Cinematography | Pawel Edelman |
| Editing by | Elzbieta Kurkowska |
| Release date(s) |  September 8, 1997 |
| Running time | 87 mins. |
| Country | Poland |
| Language | Polish |
| Budget | PZL 1,500,000 (estimated) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
- For other uses, see love story.
Love Stories (Polish: Historie miłosne) 1997 Polish romantic comedy film. Written and directed by Jerzy Stuhr, who plays four different roles. It was rated L in Iceland, but not rated by the MPAA. 87 minutes long, it has been available on Region 1 DVD at full screen with English subtitles from MGE since 2007.
The film is dedicated to Krzysztof Kieślowski, who gave Stuhr important roles in his films.
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[edit] Plot summary
The four characters played by Jerzy Stuhr all show up to the same place at different times in different vehicles. A college professor shows up in his own car. A priest shows up in a taxicab. An army officer shows up in a government vehicle. A prisoner shows up in a police van accompanied by two police officers. As the opening credits roll, the four characters walk about the same building.
The professor collects the written exams of his students, and is surprised that all Ewa Bielska wrote on hers was "I love you." He resists her advances but eventually gives in. For a crucial oral exam with the dean, Ewa asks for the professor's help, because she doesn't know anything at all. When the time comes, Ewa decides to resign, and the dean jokes with the professor that this is Poland, not America, and he wouldn't have been kicked out for having an affair with a student.
The priest is at the confessional when a young girl shows up claiming to be his daughter. Her story checks out: he knows her mother from Radom, 11 years ago. The mother died six years ago, the girl says. The priest takes the girl back to the orphanage she escaped from. Soon the parish learns but wants the priest to stay on. At the end, he decides to quit the church to be a father to his daughter.
The army officer, Colonel Matałowski of the Polish Land Forces, goes home to a house where almost everything is under lock and key, even the fridge. He tells his wife that he's going to a joint mission briefing with U. S. Army officers and that they expect him to bring his wife along. She agrees for 20,000 zloty. Then his mistress shows up, Tamara, they have drinks and talk about their love letters. His superiors disapprove of the affair because she's Russian. Matałowski sees her one last time, giving her plane tickets back to Russia.
The prisoner, Zdisław Filip, is convicted of trafficking Pakistani heroin in a Volkswagen, and sentenced to five years in jail and a fine of 5,000 zloty. As the cops haul him away, he tells his wife Kryska to go to hell. Four years later, during a conjugal visit, Zdisław gives her directions to the buried cash by tapping on her back. Kryska finds the money, but instead of using it to pay Zdisław's fine, she tries to skip country. Zdisław is upset but claims to have expected her to do that. Since he can't pay the fine, he has to spend another two years in jail.
All four characters wind up at one point seeing the archives man, that guy from Camera Buff, you know, the one who looks like Armin Shimerman. The teacher and the colonel both go down an elevator and are left alone in a long corridor.
[edit] Awards
- Golden Lion award, Polish Film Festival
- Jury Prize and the Silver, Festróia - Tróia International Film Festival
- Grand Jury Award at Newport Beach Film Festival
Jerzy Stuhr also picked up four of the five prizes he was nominated for at the Venice Film Festival.
[edit] DVD release
The MGE Region 1 DVD release is in "telewizorow" 4:3 aspect ration. It has the bare minimum: scene access and English subtitles, which for some reason are in Comic Sans.
[edit] Goofs
As the Matałowski character, Stuhr wears the rank insignia of a colonel (see Polish Armed Forces rank insignia), yet the English subtitles refer to him as "Lieutenant."
To show Tamara he's kept her letters to him on a floppy disk, Matałowski inserts the disk into the computer's drive and turns on the display, but the Microsoft Word file with her letters is already open and showing on the display.
If we are to believe that time flows in parallel for all the characters, the priest's daughter Magda should have aged by the final scene because Zdisław has served at least four years of his 5-year sentence.
