trial

Cast: Anthony Perkins, Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider

This is one of the most unusual adaptations of Franz Kafka's prose. The director, screenwriter and one of the actors of the film was Orson Welles. The painting was created in 1962 and to this day is considered one of the most important works of existential and Kafkaesque cinema.

Joseph K. (in this role known from “Psychosis” Anthony Perkins) is an average, undistinguished civil servant. His orderly life begins to fall apart when one morning he finds mysterious strangers in his room. The men state that he has been arrested. Thus begins a sultry, surreal process in which the protagonist does not even know the nature of the charges against him...

At the time of its premiere, Orson Welles's “The Process” divided the audience and critics. Some accused the director of too bold a departure from the literary prototype, others saw this as the greatest asset of this mesmerizing vision. Welles himself stressed in interviews: “This is not so much an adaptation as a film inspired by a book in which my collaborator and partner is Franz Kafka.”

Next to Perkins, icons of world cinema shine on the screen: Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider and Orson Welles himself in the role of a demonic and omnipotent lawyer.

The film has never been widely distributed in Polish cinemas and only now, 64 years after its world premiere, will its Polish premiere take place.

Orson Welles about the film: “What made it possible for me to make this film is that I have been tormented all my life by recurring nightmares of guilt... It is a very personal work for me. (...) it is the most autobiographical film I have ever made, the only one that is really so close to me.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to make this film. I can say that the period of filming itself—not editing, because this one is a terrible drudge—was the happiest time of my entire life. Say what you want, but The Trial is the best movie I've ever made.”