23/09/2005

Wróżby kumka (The call of the toad), adapted by Robert Gliński from Günter Grass' novel, was released yesterday in Poland. This film was much awaited since it deals with the relations between Germany and Poland, a taboo subject due to the final months of the Second World War (when German and Polish civilians were forced to migrate).

Robert Gliński (Salut, Tereska) depicts a love story between a Polish woman (Krystyna Janda –Best Actress 1990 in Cannes for Interrogation by Ryszard Bugajski) and a German man (Matthias Habich – The Fall by Oliver Hirschbiegel). Gliński uses flash-backs to explain the complicate past of these characters who have now grown older: the Polish family has to leave Lvov while the German family was thrown out of Gdansk/Danzig.
'Grass enjoyed the film. He liked the way we adapted his novel. He was actually quite committed to our project and helped us find German co-producers,' explains Robert Gliński, adding 'In the film, the toad is a bad omen, but Grass was the good toad for us.'

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For the film's premiere, on the 11th of September, Günter Grass (born in Gdańsk to which he dedicated the trilogy The Tin Drum/Cat and Mouse/Dog Years) was nevertheless slightly critical: 'I think contemporary times are well presented here, but the historical scenes —the nazi era, young Hitler-supporters...— is treated in an artificial way,' he said.
The script was adapted by Paweł Helle, Cezary Harasimowicz, and Klaus Richter, and the DoP was Jacek Petrycki. Wróżby kumka was produced by Regina Ziegler for Ziegler Film and Henryk Romanowski for Filmcontract Ltd Polska, in cooperation with the British company Film and Music Entertainment, the German channel ARD Degeto, TVP, the Ministry of Culture and the City of Gdańsk. This film is distributed by Kino Świat with ten prints.

(Translated from French)