Pozegnania

One of Has' earliest films, and a fine companion piece to Rozstanie (even similarly named), 'Farewells' is another tale about the passage of time, with the WWII in focus. A wealthy youth, Pavel falls for Lydia, a dancer and elopes to a quaint B&B (bed and breakfast). The difference in their social strata causes them to part. War breaks out after that; Pavel goes to Auschwitz, and Lydia marries his cousin while he's away. Fate brings them together again, but the main question remains – has their love survived? Has' direction is remarkable once more, making his agenda clear, cutting so fast from pre-war to post-war that you will be wondering what happened before you realize that is exactly what he wanted to do. He films the same people, the same locations and simply creates an amazing study of how war touched everything. The people are captured with sparkling honesty - Pavel's innocence changes to cynicism, Lydia's dreamy guts changes to a bourgeois tartness, and yet the past attracts them irreversibly. The atmosphere is again correct on all measures, as the effects of war are never stressed but becomes easily apparent. The side characters are well established too - the owner of the Quo Vadis B&B and the butler laundering small money are quite memorable. Lydia's caged and guilty inner self is superbly sketched by the unconventionally ravishing Maria Wachowiak, and this is a great romantic drama, capturing a few lives on both side of the WWII. Though the topic is not new, Has' tremendous execution makes it an engaging watch, and the fine performances render it quite smooth. A director whose fine hold on understated drama and a strong grasp of the human psyche has made me an admirer, and I'm sure he'll have that effect on most cinephiles.