My Nikifor

The character from the title is the Polish naive artist Nikifor (1895-1968), convincingly acted by Krystyna Feldman, a theatre actress who is over 80 years old. Since Linda Hunt acted in The Year of Living Dangerously, there has never been such surprising cross gender casting. The other protagonist in this unusual biographical film is the party apparatchik and would-be painter Marian Wlosinski. He first meets Nikifor in 1960 when the latter walks into his studio uninvited in the health resort of Krynice. A special relationship develops between the two of them. At first, Wlosinski is mainly irritated by the contempt that the mentally and physically handicapped Nikifor displays for his attempts to paint. But when he recognises his unmistakable talent, this changes to slightly jealous admiration and a need to help him. He takes an interest in the misty origins of Nikifor, who was born Epifan Drowniak. Nikifor’s mother, who was probably deaf and dumb, died when he was young. Hindered by a speech defect and a form of autism, he managed to survive, drawing and painting with all kinds of things he found. Against the backdrop of the grey Communist era, beautifully photographed by Krzysztof Ptak, the film provides a moving picture of the way Wlosinski tries to help Nikifor. My Nikifor has already received many awards, including one at the film festival of the health resort Karlovy Vary. (GT)

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