Farewell to Autumn

Mariusz Treliński’s debut film, saturated with Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz’s decadent visions, shot in transformation-era Poland amidst tales of the “end of history”. A baroque, exuberant picture and, simultaneously, an excellent testing ground for the artistic imagination of Treliński, who would soon be using this aesthetic as an opera director. The dynamic action is breathtaking; the grandiose set design and over-expressive acting are perplexing and disconcerting. Then there is the bright red, similar to the colour schemes used by Dario Argento and Derek Jarman. It is not just an aesthetic feature, however. It foreshadows the bloodshed and revolution that will sweep away the world inhabited by Treliński’s protagonists, which the social and political turmoil of the interwar period are gradually seeping into. A vision all the more disturbing, given that Witkacy managed to capture in it the circumstances of his own death.

Piotr Sadzik

Mariusz Treliński (b. 1962) is a Polish film, theater and opera director. His feature-length debut was the 1987 television production Big Whale Rump. Farewell to Autumn (1990), an adaptation of the novel by celebrated Polish writer Witkacy, premiered in Venice. His next film – A Gentle Creature (1995), based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella – received the critics’ award at the 20th Gdynia Film Festival. His last film to date is Egoists (2000).