Dzieje grzechu

Walerian Borowczyk, 1975

We are screening in Ponrepo

Tuesday 13. 5. 2025 19:30 DCP More about projection Koupit lístek
Subtitles English, Czech
Original version polsky
English Friendly Yes!

This adaptation of the novel by the positivist author Stefan Żeromski is Borowczyk's only Polish feature film. Debutant Grażyna Długołęcka portrays the fate-tested Ewa Pobratyńska, whose love for a married anthropology student propels her through early 20th century Europe. In her most passionate film, Borowczyk criticizes the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church. A Tale of Sin is a delirious melodrama that reaches an almost surrealist pitch.

Virtually the entire film is shot with the handheld camera of master cinematographer Zygmunt Samosiuk (who appears in an extra cameo role with Borowczyk). The film makes bravura use of Mendelssohn's violin concerto. History of Sin was a critical and commercial success at home and abroad and was Poland's official representative at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival.


+ short film

Grandmother's Encyclopedia / Lʼencyklopedie de grand-maman en 13 volumes

directed by Walerian Borowczyk / France 1963 / 6 min. / DCP

The first three letters of the alphabet, animated with flat animation of images from a Victorian-era handbook, recall Terry Gilliam's animated ‘between sketches’ for the Monty Python band. Not surprisingly, Gilliam often cites Borowczyk's fiction and animation as a major inspiration.

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Film data

About a film

Production year 1975
Duration 130 min
Director Walerian Borowczyk
Cast Grażyna Długołęcka, Jerzy Zelnik, Olgierd Łukaszewicz