Innocent Sorcerers

This was the first 'mainland European' film I saw as a teenager in the early 60s. I saw it on late-night television and it knocked me out. Later on I saw Wajda's 'Generation' trilogy and could barely believe that this was the same director. I have subsequently seen it on the big screen a couple of times and it remains a favourite from its era. The reason was simply that the creative force behind 'Innocent Sorcerers' is not Wajda but Jerzy Skolimowski.

You only need to take a look at 'Walkover' to see the same callous and alienated attitude of the central character. However, for me, 'Innocent Sorcerers' is a superior film to Skolimowski's earliest directorial works as, through the character of Pelagia, a much greater warmth and meaning is expressed.

Krystyna Stypulkowska makes a perfect Pelagia - coquettish and flirtatious, but still innocent. The exquisite scene of 'tossing the matchbox' is more erotic than all but a handful of 'explicit' sex scenes from modern cinema.

There are few films from Eastern Europe in the Soviet era that ever make you really care about the characters - this is definitely one.