Debutante

A renowned architect (Andrzej Łapicki) and the women around him: Maria (Elżbieta Czyżewska), his mature assistant, who runs both the office and the household like the first wife in a harem, and Bożenka, his much younger wife, treated more like a submissive concubine. Into this world steps Ewa, played by Dorota Stalińska. Fresh out of university, she longs to spread her wings in the Master’s studio. Slowly, almost against her will, she is drawn into the machinery of this harem, working through the night on his projects – for the Cause, for Him. She has talent, and the idealism of a debutante. Her moment of clarity comes only after she has fought and won a battle on his behalf: “We should leave this place. ALL of us”. But the other women retreat from the path to freedom. In the end, the debutante saves only herself.

Barbara Sass’s second feature film, Debutante is another parable, created together with Dorota Stalińska, about a woman who longs for freedom above all else. With ruthless precision, they expose the mechanisms of male-female relations that cast the man in the role of Master.

Dorota Roszkowska, Barbara Młynarz-Pomorska

Barbara Sass (1936–2015) – Polish film director and screenwriter. She initially studied acting at the Łódź Film School (PWSFTviT), but eventually graduated from its Directing Department. Early in her career she worked as an assistant to prominent filmmakers, including Wojciech Jerzy Has. After directing several short television films, she made her feature debut with Without Love (1980), which won the Best Debut award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdańsk and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Mannheim Film Festival. With the exception of Caged (1987), all of her films are portraits of women. Set against different historical backdrops, they form a distinctive and universal voice within women’s cinema, still relatively underrepresented in Poland. Her regular cinematographer was her husband, Wiesław Zdort.

11th New Horizons IFF Catalogue

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