Przebudzenie (1934)

After a long job search, the main character of the film receives an offer of employment with a wealthy family as a private tutor. She quickly decides to take the job, and a music teacher tries to win her favor, but the girl is more interested in a car mechanic she met briefly. Reason and financial considerations prevail over love, as her beloved is unemployed and unable to find work. Soon, tragedy strikes.

Date of release
1934-04-18
TMDB
7.0 / 10 (1)
Director
Aleksander Ford

Casting

Interesting facts

Przebudzenie is a 1934 Polish drama film directed by Aleksander Ford, based on a screenplay by Olga Fordowa. The film follows the struggles of a young high school graduate employed as a governess by a wealthy Warsaw family. She falls in love with a mechanic, who is wrongly accused of theft, leading to his arrest and her dismissal. In a dream sequence, the heroine envisions the injustices faced by her and her beloved. Upon waking, she observes workers marching upward, symbolizing hope for a better future for the lower classes.

Production

According to Ford's biographer Stanisław Janicki, funding for Ford's fourth feature film came from a Radom cinema owner. Ford aimed to focus on social issues. He described his vision:

Przebudzenie will be a social drama depicting the life of a young girl emerging from the sheltered world of home and school into reality. Her graduation marks an awakening from rosy, unrealistic dreams to a new, unknown, and threatening world… I sought to give my film a deeper social character, setting the action in both opulent salons and abject poverty… I aim to break from convention, not as an avant-garde experiment, but by building on existin…

As in his debut feature Mascotte (1930), Ford used melodrama to veil critiques of the system, contrasting the bourgeoisie and proletariat, glorifying labor, and condemning systemic poverty and injustice.

Ford collaborated with members of the "Start" Artistic Film Enthusiasts Association, including Olga Fordowa (screenplay), Wanda Jakubowska (artistic director), Kazimierz Haltrecht and Aleksander Minorski (assistant directors), and Stanisław Wohl (cinematographer). Ludwik Perski also contributed. Non-avant-garde contributors included Simon Laks (music), Jacek Weinreich and W. Golińska (set design), and Julian Tuwim, who wrote the song Alkoholik.

Zofia Nakoneczna, a theater actress since 1930, debuted on film after being spotted by Ford's assistant during a rehearsal. Bazyli Sikiewicz played her love interest, with supporting roles by Igo Sym, Stefan Jaracz, Aleksander Zelwerowicz, Janina Macherska, Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski, and Władysław Walter.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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