Academy of Polish Film MADONNA Z WOLKA

Polish Film Academy — Wajda. Director of the painting PAINTING AND VISUAL TRADITION — THE IMAGE IN MOTION of the Virgin of the Wolf (1979) lecture: dr Marta Raczek-Karcz

Forty-year-old Viktor Ruben, heartbroken after the death of a friend, visits his uncle's house and a friendly neighbor's country house. There he spent his youthful years, surrounded by girls with whom he was bound by ties not only of friendship. Ruben recalls the last summer before the war. The atmosphere of carefree, friendship and incipient love harmonized with the charms of beautiful surroundings and hot summer.

Now a lot has changed. The uncles grew old, the girls turned into women. One of them, Fela, died, the others got married. Trying to start a romance has no future, and shared memories awaken not only feelings, but also anxiety of the inhabitants of the manor. The supposed idyll of return is nullified by news of complicated fates, dramas, life disasters. An ironic sweetness for Victor is to be packed for him on the wayward jars of preserves. The spell is over, there is no going back to the past. In Victor, he is determined never to return to the Wolf again.

A film full of contemplation of the course of human life, perversely encouraging to enjoy life at the right time.

The beautiful outdoors, over which a nostalgic haze hovers, the corners of the manor, where memories lurk, complete the action of the work.

Agnieszka Czachowska, Lexicon of Polish Feature Films, Warsaw 1996