Ferdydurke

Warsaw, 1939. The country prepares for war with Germany. Józio, a man who has just turned thirty and published his first book, is visited by his old teacher, Professor Pimko, who claims that Józio is still immature and orders him to return to school. Pimko finds accommodation for Józio with the Mlodziaks, who pride themselves on being an utterly modern family. Józio is enchanted by the beautiful Zuta Mlodziak, but rather than giving in to her charms, he rekindles his love for his cousin Zosia. Their love develops against the background of the peasants’ rebellion and German bombs being dropped on Warsaw.
Thirty Door Key was Skolimowski’s attempt to internationalise and modernise the most cult Polish novel, written by Witold Gombrowicz. Skolimowski used non-Polish actors in the main roles and set his film in a distinctive moment of history: the end of prewar, sovereign Poland, with all its elaborate and often silly traditions. He achieved his goal, but at the heavy price of reducing the intellectual content of the text and a sense of overcrowding the film with characters, motifs and ideas. Although disappointing in the eyes of critics and Skolimowski himself, Thirty Door Key has its charms: excellent music, exquisite settings and the presence of the director himself in the role of a headmaster, overseeing the most boring assemblage of teachers. (EMK)