"An Andrzej Wajda film" "after a story by Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz" "THE BIRCH WOOD" "starring" "with" "Music" "Cameraman" "Sound" "Editing" "Production Design and Set Decoration" "Costume Design" "Makeup" "Executive Producer" "Photography" "Directed by" "Where's my brother?" "What d'you mean?" "!" "Over there!" "Excuse me, I didn't recognize you!" "It's been so long!" "Boleslaw!" "Thank God you're well!" "How do you feel?" "Fine!" "I'm glad you remembered me." "What else could I have done?" "Only tired after two days and two nights on the road." "Doctors said I needed forest air." "So, here I am!" "God!" "She's a big girl already!" "She's already a young lady!" "Such a daughter you've got..." "What's your name?" " Tell your uncle your name." " Ola." "Her doll is awful!" "I saw some nice dolls in Switzerland." "I forgot to bring her one." "I really am not a very good uncle." "Go for a walk!" "Do you let her go alone?" "I feel terribly tired in the low lands." "Especially here..." "in Poland." "I thought I'd never get here." " Thank you very much." " Please." "Thank you." "Tea!" "Miles and miles... of forests!" "Yeah, but not beautiful." "Pine." "I like pine trees very much." "The doctors kept sending me to pine forests." " Why didn't you bring the jam?" " Yes." "You should take someone to look over Ola." "Well, I thought..." "You thought..." "Thinking is not enough." "Where's my room?" "What?" "Which is my room?" "It's on the left." "Is it all you're going to eat?" "!" "Yes, thank you." "Say... where's our piano?" "I sold it." "You sold it?" "!" "Why?" "You used to..." "It'll be a little dull without it..." "Don't you ride?" "No..." "No!" "But I've got a saddle!" "What about the horse?" "Which one?" "O..." "The nag!" "Janek says it's a good one." "I'll go riding, then!" "How far is to the town?" "You've just come from it!" "How many miles?" "About twenty." "I'll get a piano there." "Haven't you seen the road?" "I have, but what about when it's dry?" "Lt'll be deep sand then." "Ola!" "Come home!" "Will you let me bring it?" "Forget about that piano!" "Lt'll be hard living here!" "I want to buy a piano!" "Don't touch me!" "I had my own piano in Switzerland." "I'll be bored to death here, in this god forsaken place." "It's a little out of tune." "No, it sounds fine." "My father was a music teacher, and my grandfather an organ player." "They wanted to make a pianist out of me." "And what happened?" "I got married my child died now I'm ill..." "You don't need it." "Won't you sell it?" "No." "In the fall, when I'll be well," "I'll give music lessons again." "But I can lend it to you." "That's fine." "Thank you." "Be careful with it..." "I'm very attached to it." "You can rest assured," "I'll look after it, like if it was a baby." "No use crying." "She won't be needing it by fall anymore." "And neither will I." "I can't stand that piano, and your playing!" "You seem to forget it's a house in mourning." "But it was a year ago..." "That music is getting on my nerves!" "And on mine, too." "It's evoking a world I'll never be able to get back to." "A world I never really knew." "From my window in the sanatorium I saw things that might have been beautiful," "had I been able to touch them." "But, I never touched them, and I never will." "Things like brittle ice glass..." "I see you don't realize one thing." "Do you know why I came here?" "What do you mean, why?" "I know my gaiety, my music, irritate you, but let me stay this way a little longer." "I won't be here long." "In the final stages of my illness there usually is an improvement." "That's when dostors send the patient just anywhere." "To the country, or just home." "My improvement is already fading away." "So, please, don't object." "I came here to die." "Why aren't there any nightingales here?" "There're some but they've stopped singing." "With my illness, after the lungs, the intestines are attacked." "Ola!" "Look!" "Want to try?" "Come on!" "I don't know how!" "Come on, try!" " Ready?" " No." " What's your name?" " Malina." "Not so quickly!" "What's this?" "A grave." "Whose grave?" "My mother's." "In the wood?" "Why not in the cemetery?" "The roads were floaded." "The priest came on horseback." "Did it happen in the spring?" "He confessed mother." "He stayed for two days." "Did he bless the earth?" "He did, but he said she should be burried in town." "What did your daddy say?" "He said she should stay in the birch wood." "It's so beautiful here." "Do you remember her?" "O, yes, it's only been one year!" "True, it only was last year." "I only heard about it in the fall." "Your daddy doesn't write too often." "He doesn't like writing." "I write more often." "Daddy doesn't like your letters." "Did he read them to you?" "No..." "Once he did about you tobogganing!" "I've got a sleigh, too!" "Do you like sleigh-ridding?" "But, there are no mountains here!" "Are there mountains in Switzerland?" "Huge ones!" " I'll show you pictures with them." " Let's go look at them!" "A reception at the Mayor's, in Basel." "Look at these splendid mountains!" "Snow-covered peaks..." "Wait, wait... the bosbleighs and toboggans." "For two or three people, with a steering-wheel" "And this is a reception at the hotel "Astoria"." "This lady has a sleigh like yours." "Wait, wait... here I am skiing." "Here it is... and skating." "That's Davos, a big, splendid, skating ring." "Are you bored?" "It's a habit I got at the sanatorium." "You were spying on me1" "Sometimes one just wants to be alone." "Remember what mother used to say?" ""One doesn't have the right to enter someone else's soul in boots!"" "Not even in little pumps like yours." "You never saw my wife." "Judging from the photos, you'd say she wasn't pretty." "But we were happy together." "She was a good woman, nice to be with..." "She'd have loved being here now with the spring on its way." "Ola looks a bit like her." "When she fell ill..." "It didn't last long." "A big thaw and floods..." "Ola told me about it." "I don't know..." "It's very sad." "But, you should have buried her in town." "We couldn't get through, we buried her here." "She liked this birch wood, the forests, the spring." "How happy would she have been, had she been able to see this spring!" "She lies there, under the birches," "It's better for her..." "and for me." "I'm not religious." "I don't know how to pray." "I just go there, but I don't pray." "I just feel there's someone there, among the birches." "You don't understand me." "It's good to have her here." "You see..." "I used to chase women around, you remember." "I wasn't always faithful to her." "But when she fell ill, I realized she meant everything to me." "And then, when she died I knew I owed her something." "That I must, somehow, make up for it all!" "It's hard to advise you, but I think you have a little child..." "So, I should get a woman, right?" "A woman!" "Every woman going by sickens and annoys me, because she's alive, and can see this wood!" "I understood that in the army." "In the beginning, I was just like the others." "They talked about their wives, how they loved them and then like animals, in the hay, with girls..." "I don't need it at all!" "You wouldn't understand." "Doesn't smoke harm you?" "I'll be going now..." "Goodnight." "Goodnight." "I don't need them at all." "Mister forester!" "Mister forester!" "Are you here?" "My brother!" "My brother!" "His hand is bleeding!" "I've got some bandages." "Light!" "Water!" "Sir!" "Sir!" "Your medicine!" "Thank you." " Good afternoon." " Good afternoon." "Was it you riding with Malina yesterday?" "Yes, I was." "Mihal was looking for her." "He was furious." "She's his girl." "Have you also got a girl?" "Mihal is very furious." "He might something to you." "What can he do to me?" "People are afraid of him." "Tell him I won't go to her anymore." "Don't you like her?" "I like her very much." "But I don't want to cut him out." "You can go, but he shouldn't find out about it." "She likes you, but she's afraid of Mihal." "Why?" "They say he once killed a man in the woods." "So what?" "Does she care for him?" "He's going to marry her." "It's a difficult instrument to play." "I haven't learnt nothin', sir." "Still, you play beautifully." "Just a bit, by ear." "Let's go." "Thank you." "Let's stay a little more." "It's bedtime." "Come." " What's wrong?" " I love Mihal... and mummy... mummy..." "What nonsense." "I'll carry you pickaback." "I'm like a cat, I can see in the dark." "Katarzyna!" "Was it you playing?" "You see how good it is to have a piano?" "Listen!" "I have something to tell you." "Why did you have to bring it here?" "It's only fit to play those silly tunes of yours!" "Wake up." "Are you afraid of me?" "Want a sweet?" " What should you say?" " Thank you." "Did you go to Mihal's today?" "You like him better than me, don't you?" "And mother did too, didn't she?" "Why don't you love me?" "Don't smile so stupidly." "Look in to my eyes!" "When she came here, mother used to laugh and sing, didn't she?" "Didn't she?" "Answer." "Answer me!" "Dad's asking you:" "Were you there?" "Are you dumb?" "!" "Answer!" "Did you go there?" "Answer!" "Answer." "Want another sweet?" "Answer me!" "No." "I'm asking for the last time." "When I was away, he used to come here, didn't he?" "He sat on your bed, right?" "Right?" "Answer me, yes or no?" "Yes or no?" "They bought you, right?" "He gave you more sweets." "And so did mother, didn't she?" "Don't wink!" "Answer!" "Wait!" "Don't cry." "Daddy doesn't want to hurt you." "I only want you to tell me if, when I was away, he came here, and your mother sang with him." "Don't cry!" "Don't!" "Please, don't cry." "Don't cry, sweatheart." "Don't be scared." "I'll be good to you." "Look at me, don't be afraid." "Sweatheart I don't want you to cry." "Hug me." "Hug me." "Hug me!" "You'll be a slut, too!" "Don't be afraid of me!" "Don't be afraid of me!" "Now tell me... please" "Lie down, eat your sweet." "Where is it?" "Daddy hasn't got another one." "Don't take your hand away." "Now, go to sleep." "You're a good girl." "Tomorrow we'll go to mummy..." "And say we're sorry, alright?" "Sit down, please." "May I?" "We were waiting for you." "I'm sorry I'm late." "Sit down." "Please." "All the best." "You know what I wish you." "With all my heart." "Ola!" "What about us?" "We're together at last." "What a beautiful ribbon you have!" "You must try Katarzyna's ham." "It's a speciality of ours." "I'm sure it's exquisite." "You're allowed a drop." "Aren't you?" "Your health." "I'll drink alone, then..." "I'm sorry, I don't feel too well today." "May I have a leaner slice?" "You have no appetite." "A sandwich won't harm you." "I'm sorry, I can't give you no Beaujolais here!" "I can't." "I'm sorry." "Thank you very much." "You don't like this either?" "No, it's very good." "Excellent." "I'm not feeling well." "Then, something else..." "A sausage?" "It's Easter, after all..." "I know, forgive me." "But, I'm not feeling well." "You could at least, somehow..." "Because I really don't know if..." "Eat, Ola you haven't come from Switzerland, you!" "Don't lick the lamb!" " I should've bought some Swiss cheese!" " Stop talking this way!" "Do you love me?" "I love you." "Who else do you love?" "Nobody else?" "Answer." "Why are you always silent?" "Do you love me?" "Answer this!" "Haven't you ever been with somebody?" "With nobody?" "What about Mihal?" "D'you also love Mihal?" "I love Mihal, too." "There once was a farmer who had a bad wife." "He didn't know what to do with her!" "One day, he went to the forest, and there he saw a big, dark well." "The Evil One was sitting in that well." "So, the farmer said to himself:" ""I'll take my wife for a walk, and through her into it. "" "Daddy, Mihal's telling me a wonderful story!" "Carry on, then." "Let him finish it and then come home, it's bedtime." "But, on a Sunday, she was very nice to him, and they went for a walk." "They wandered through the forest, he showed her a lot of things, and... they got to that well." "He looked down it and said:" ""See how lovely the water is. "" "So she bent over to look into the well." "And he pushed her with his knee and:" "Bang!" "She fell into it!" "And he went home." "Nice story, isn't it?" "Aren't you asleep yet?" "Come, come inside." "What should I tell you?" "About the moon again?" "It's cloudy today." "A total eclipse." "Remember what I told you about that eclipse in Switzerland?" "Birds left their nests, dogs were howling" "I'll never see it again." "Don't cry!" "People sleep soundly, with so much horror around them!" "Close the windows!" "Ola... go to your room." "Nice things you've been up to." "What things?" "That slut!" "Do you really think that a young boy like me can live in chastity?" "What a strange idea!" "Well, what about me?" "I don't care how you manage it." "I went without long enough in the sanatorium." "He may harm you." "Don't worry and don't fuss." "Nothing can harm me anymore." "Have you been spying on me?" "You roam about both of you, always together!" "Today, by the pound." "Why do you spy on us?" "It's no concern of yours." "No concern of mine?" "Of course it is!" "One day you tell me you're dying and the next one you chase sluts around!" "I'm telling you again it's none of your business." "I know more than you think." "I know what you don't even suspect." "I'll tell you what I've seen tonight, just before the storm." "I saw her kissing with Mihal!" "More than kissing!" "More than kissing!" "What do I care what she does?" "She isn't my wife, she can kiss him." "Let it go!" "You'll regret it!" "I knew there was nobody in the house!" "Mihal waited till she came back from you." "It was dark." "They lit the lamp." "I saw..." "I saw everything!" "You're lying!" "You're lying!" "You can't see anything from there!" "I climbed..." "I climbed up a pine." "There're some pines there, close to the house." "I saw everything plain as day." "They didn't put out the lamp!" "Spy!" "Did you see how many there are this year?" "Stanislaw is very ill." "I know." "Katarzyna told me." "Should I come and look after him?" "You shouldn't meet again." "There's only Mihal left now, isn't it?" "What's that to you?" "Come in." "You called me?" "Close the door." "Come in." "Sit down." "There." "Lie down." "Get out!" "I'm telling you my sister's dead and I'm her heir." "I came for my property." "Your brother rented the piano, true?" "Maybe you could wait..." "I've got a buyer." "But, please, sir, what's the hurry..." "you won't get too much for it, anyway..." "He's a good buyer!" "Please, sir, maybe, in the fall, I'll buy it myself..." "You can't afford it!" "Where is it?" "What?" "Where's that piano?" "Where?" "In the drawing room!" "You know I wanted..." "Don't worry." "My coffin will be lighter." "Come..." "Eat." "Good morning." "God, how green it is!" "D'you want to have something to eat?" "No, thank you." "You'll bury me in the birch wood." "Next to your wife." "It may not be so soon." "I'm feeling fine today." "It's not a nice subject, we won't go back to it." "Look here:" "I'm not joking!" "I don't want to bump over 20 km." "Of that road!" "You'd better bury me here if it won't be too unpleasant for you to have me so near to you." "And after I'm dead, don't stop yourself with Malina!" "What's... the water like?" "Warm." "I don't want to die so young!" "What did you say?" "I don't want to!" "I don't want to!" "Now we shall lift you up." "Give me your hand, give it to me." "Well?" "What are you staring at?" "Bring some water... and vinegar!" "What are you doing here?" "Get out!" "Get out!" "At once!" "Out!" "Mihal wants to marry me in the fall." "Good." "That's fine." "I'm leaving anyway, so g et married before that." "You'll be a married woman when I go." "Where will you live?" "In Mihal's house, or here?" "It's all the same for me..." "Here... there." "I'll feel lonely without you... without Ola..." "Only mister Stanislaw will be left here." "Yes." "In the earth."