Andrzej Żuławski

Directing

Andrzej Żuławski

Born 1940-11-22 · Lwów, Lwów Voivodeship, Poland [now Lviv, Ukraine]

Andrzej Żuławski (November 22, 1940 – February 17, 2016) was a Polish film director. He was born in Lwów, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine). Żuławski often went against mainstream commercialism in his films, and enjoyed success mostly with European art-house audiences. In the late 1950s, he studied cinema in France. His second feature The Devil (1972) was banned in Poland, and Żuławski went to France. After the success of That Most Important Thing: Love in 1975, he returned to Poland where he spent two years in making The Silver Globe (1988). The work on this film was interrupted by the Polish authorities. After that, Zulawski moved to France where became known for controversial and violent art-house films. Zulawski is also known for his work with certain specific actresses including Romy Schneider, Isabelle Adjani and Sophie Marceau.

Acting credits

On the Silver Globe poster
7.7

A small group of cosmic explorers, including a woman, leaves Earth to start a new civilization. They do not realize that within themselves they carry the end of their own dream. They die one by one, while their children revert to a primitive native culture, creating new myths and a new god.

On the Silver Globe

1989

The Ashes poster
6.7

Set in the time of Napoleon wars, shows how the wars swept over the unfortunate Polish country at the beginning of the XIX-th century. Story revolves around the Polish legion under command of General Dabrowski, who then fought on Napoleon's side with the hopes of Poland's revival.

The Ashes

1965

Short Life, Long Death: The Making and Un-Making of On The Silver Globe poster
NR

An exclusive talking head documentary about the film's production discusses how each aspect of the film was made and eventually halted.

Short Life, Long Death: The Making and Un-Making of On The Silver Globe

2025

Samson poster
4.8

The hero is a Jewish youth. He, like his family, has always been silent and undemonstrative in the face of prejudice. Now he stands up for his right to survive, and in so doing represents the fighting spirit that culminated in the Warsaw Uprising.

Samson

1961

Escape to the Silver Globe poster
7.2

A documentary project about what the filmmakers claim to be the greatest, unfulfilled dream of Polish cinema, the 1970s science fiction epic "On the Silver Globe".

Escape to the Silver Globe

2021

Sadness and Beauty poster
3.5

Hugo is a writer whose one great book was based on an affair he had with Lea, a sculptor. Bereft of inspiration for a follow-up, Hugo returns years later to rekindle the flame of romance and creativity. Lea soundly rejects him, and her student Prudence feels a burning hatred for the man who deserted the teacher she admires.

Sadness and Beauty

1985

Żuławski on Żuławski poster
7.0

A portrait of film director Andrzej Żuławski. This biographical documentary shows the different layers of the personality of the artist and doesn't hide the contradictions of his nature. The confessions of Żuławski are alternated with fragments of his films, showing the twists and turns of his personal life and art.

Żuławski on Żuławski

2000

Boris Godounov, une conscience tourmentée poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Boris Godounov, une conscience tourmentée

2014

No artwork available
NR

Interview with Andrzej Zulawski director talks about his two passions films and books.

Two Faces of Andrzej Zulawski

1991

The Other Side of the Wall: The Making of Possession poster
6.5

Daniel Bird narrates the making of Andrzej Zulawski’s 1981 film- Possession- covering the film’s inception, casting, shoot, it’s release in Cannes, and it’s reevaluation and cult status.

The Other Side of the Wall: The Making of Possession

2009

Behind the camera

Possession poster
7.3

A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.

Possession

1981

Possession poster
7.3

A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.

Possession

1981

Cosmos poster
6.5

Two young men seek the solitude of the country; their peace is disturbed when a set of random occurrences suggest to their susceptible minds a pattern with sinister meanings.

Cosmos

2015

Cosmos poster
6.5

Two young men seek the solitude of the country; their peace is disturbed when a set of random occurrences suggest to their susceptible minds a pattern with sinister meanings.

Cosmos

2015

The Public Woman poster
6.0

An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into commiting a political assassination.

The Public Woman

1984

The Public Woman poster
6.0

An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into commiting a political assassination.

The Public Woman

1984

Mad Love poster
5.7

After a successful bank robbery, Micky hopes to take back his girlfriend Marie who has been taken from him. On the way to Paris he meets Leon, a neurotic dreamer whom he considers an idiot. Leon can hardly understand what Micky is up to but he follows him everywhere and soon falls in love with Marie.

Mad Love

1985

Mad Love poster
5.7

After a successful bank robbery, Micky hopes to take back his girlfriend Marie who has been taken from him. On the way to Paris he meets Leon, a neurotic dreamer whom he considers an idiot. Leon can hardly understand what Micky is up to but he follows him everywhere and soon falls in love with Marie.

Mad Love

1985

Bird Talk poster
4.5

Based on a script by Andrzej Żuławski, this is a fascinating on-screen dialogue between father and son that combines nostalgia and fury, the sublime with humor, and old-school style with a sharp, penetrating look at Polish reality. The eponymous bird talk is the language used by those excluded from the aggressive majority: a history teacher tormented by children, a teacher of Polish studies fired from his job, a girl who cleans a banker’s villa, a florist with a club foot and a student with a fascination for cinema. Pushed to the margins by the extreme right, they defend themselves with irony, songs and quotes from the classics.

Bird Talk

2019

On the Silver Globe poster
7.7

A small group of cosmic explorers, including a woman, leaves Earth to start a new civilization. They do not realize that within themselves they carry the end of their own dream. They die one by one, while their children revert to a primitive native culture, creating new myths and a new god.

On the Silver Globe

1989

On the Silver Globe poster
7.7

A small group of cosmic explorers, including a woman, leaves Earth to start a new civilization. They do not realize that within themselves they carry the end of their own dream. They die one by one, while their children revert to a primitive native culture, creating new myths and a new god.

On the Silver Globe

1989

Fidelity poster
5.9

A talented photographer who lands a lucrative job in Paris with a scandal-mongering tabloid and becomes romantically involved with an eccentric children's book publisher while resisting the sexual advances of another photographer.

Fidelity

2000

Fidelity poster
5.9

A talented photographer who lands a lucrative job in Paris with a scandal-mongering tabloid and becomes romantically involved with an eccentric children's book publisher while resisting the sexual advances of another photographer.

Fidelity

2000

The Devil poster
7.3

Young Polish nobleman Jakub is saved from imprisonment by a stranger. In return, the stranger wants to obtain a list of Jakub’s fellow conspirators. As he follows his mysterious savior across the country, Jakub is affected by the overall chaos and moral corruption; he goes insane and becomes a mass murderer.

The Devil

1972

The Devil poster
7.3

Young Polish nobleman Jakub is saved from imprisonment by a stranger. In return, the stranger wants to obtain a list of Jakub’s fellow conspirators. As he follows his mysterious savior across the country, Jakub is affected by the overall chaos and moral corruption; he goes insane and becomes a mass murderer.

The Devil

1972

Szamanka poster
6.1

Anthropology professor Michal develops two overwhelming obsessions. The first one is a mummified, 3,000 year-old, perfectly preserved body of a shaman he and his colleagues have recently dragged out of a swamp. The second is an enigmatic student he meets by chance at a railway station.

Szamanka

1996

That Most Important Thing: Love poster
7.0

Servais Mont, a freelance photographer who works taking compromising photos, gets fascinated by Nadine Chevalier, a tormented low-budget movie actress married to an eccentric film photo collector.

That Most Important Thing: Love

1975

That Most Important Thing: Love poster
7.0

Servais Mont, a freelance photographer who works taking compromising photos, gets fascinated by Nadine Chevalier, a tormented low-budget movie actress married to an eccentric film photo collector.

That Most Important Thing: Love

1975

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days poster
6.1

Lucas has invented a new computer language but at the same time he has been informed about his strange terminal illness during which he has been gradually losing his memory. Shortly after that he meets Blanche who acts as a medium in a bizarre traveling show. Dying Lucas follows her to the sea resort where they spend together several days and nights.

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days

1989

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days poster
6.1

Lucas has invented a new computer language but at the same time he has been informed about his strange terminal illness during which he has been gradually losing his memory. Shortly after that he meets Blanche who acts as a medium in a bizarre traveling show. Dying Lucas follows her to the sea resort where they spend together several days and nights.

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days

1989

The Blue Note poster
5.5

A look at the last few days of in the life of composer Frédéric Chopin's professional life.

The Blue Note

1991

The Blue Note poster
5.5

A look at the last few days of in the life of composer Frédéric Chopin's professional life.

The Blue Note

1991

The Third Part of the Night poster
7.0

Set during the Nazi occupation of Poland, the story follows Michał, who witnesses the murder of his mother, wife and child and then is hurled into a life that literally is not his own; a surreal world littered with trapdoors, doppelgängers and wormholes.

The Third Part of the Night

1972

The Third Part of the Night poster
7.0

Set during the Nazi occupation of Poland, the story follows Michał, who witnesses the murder of his mother, wife and child and then is hurled into a life that literally is not his own; a surreal world littered with trapdoors, doppelgängers and wormholes.

The Third Part of the Night

1972