Film Archive

Fools

Proxima Competition 2022 / Głupcy / Poland, Romania, Germany 2022

Marlena (62) and Tomasz (42) are living contentedly in a house on the coast, wrapped up in their own little world. But their cosy existence is turned upside down by Marlena’s decision to bring home her sick son… In his unsettling family drama Tomasz Wasilewski concentrates on compelling visual stylisation and a detached narrative form, while the carefully composed images well illustrate the protagonists’ inner struggle.

Synopsis

Marlena (62) and Tomasz (42) are living contentedly in a house on the coast, wrapped up in their own little world. But their cosy existence is turned upside down by Marlena’s decision to bring home her sick son… After the triumph of his previous film United States of Love, awarded at the Berlinale, Tomasz Wasilewski continues to develop his original directorial craft in his fourth outing, an unsettling family drama. Here he concentrates on compelling visual stylisation and a somewhat detached narrative form. The carefully composed images which successfully illustrate the protagonists’ inner struggle are the end result of Wasilewski’s second collaboration with respected Romanian cinematographer Oleg Mutu.

Lenka Tyrpáková

About the film

109 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Tomasz Wasilewski / Screenplay Tomasz Wasilewski / Dir. of Photography Oleg Mutu / Sound Maciej Pawłowski, Ilja Koster / Editor Beata Walentowska / Art Director Katarzyna Sobańska, Marcel Sławiński / Producer Ewa Puszczyńska / Production Extreme Emotions / Coproduction Micro Film, Achtung Panda / Cast Dorota Kolak, Łukasz Simlat, Tomasz Tyndyk, Katarzyna Herman, Marta Nieradkiewicz / Sales New Europe Film Sales / Contact Brigitta Portier, Gary Walsh

About the director

Tomasz Wasilewski (1980, Toruń, Poland). Selected filmography: In a Bedroom (W sypialni, 2012), Floating Skyscrapers (Płynące wieżowce, 2013), United States of Love (Zjednoczone stany miłości, 2016), Fools (Głupcy, 2022).