Intimations: The Cinema of Wojciech Has

by Annette Insdorf

In this first study in English of a master of Polish cinema, Annette Insdorf explores Has’s thirteen feature films with the same deep insight of her groundbreaking book on Krzysztof Kieslowski, Double Lives, Second Chances (Northwestern, 2013).
 
Wojciech Has’s films are still less known outside of his native Poland than those of his countrymen Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi, and Krzysztof Kieslowski. Yet thanks to his singular vision, many critics rank Has among the masters of world cinema. Some of his movies have developed a cult following, notably The Saragossa Manuscript , the favorite film of the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, which has been praised by directors such as Luis Buñuel, Francis Ford Coppola, and Roman Polanski.
 
Has’s films reveal the inner lives of his characters, which he portrays by giving free rein to his own wildly creative imagination. In addition to The Saragossa Manuscript , his diverse and innovative filmography includes The Hourglass Sanatorium , a vividly surreal depiction of Hassidic life in Poland between the world wars; The Noose , a stark poetic drama about a lucid alcoholic who knows he will not be able to kick the habit; and How to Be Loved , in which an actress remembers her wartime past.
 
Has made disparate but formally striking movies infused with European strains of existentialism and the avant-garde. With many of his films being restored and rereleased, new generations of film lovers are discovering his artistic genius. The Cinema of Wojciech Has is the definitive guide in English to his work.
 

160 pages, Paperback

Published May 15, 2017

About the author

Annette Insdorf is Professor of Film at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and Moderator of the 92nd Street Y's Reel Pieces series in New York City. Her books include Francois Truffaut, a study of the French director’s work; two books about Polish filmmakers — Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski and Intimations: The Cinema of Wojciech Has; Philip Kaufman; and the landmark study, Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust (with a foreword by Elie Wiesel). Her latest book is Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes. Among the recent honors she has received are 92Y’s “Exceptional Women Award” (2020), the Silver Medallion from the 2021 Telluride Film Festival, and Moment Magazine’s Creativity Award (2021).

Reviews

[Scott Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to the oeuvre of Wojciech Has, a master Polish movie director who is virtually unknown in America. If any of his movies are known here, it would be The Saragossa Manuscript, which has been shown a number of times (usually in a truncated version) and was briefly available on DVD. But as of this writing, none of his movies are (legally) available for viewing in this country. Each of his 14 features gets their own chapter, plus there are two more chapters devoted to the short films he made at the beginning of his career and to the years he spent as a professor of film in Lodz. The movies get detailed plot descriptions, as well as discussions of themes, motifs and recurring symbols. My only complaint is that there is little biographical information and it is spread throughout the book, which sometimes leads to confusion when Insdorf discusses certain movies. More details about his difficulties with the government would have been instructive, and while this question may be truly unknowable, it would be instructive to know whether Has truly Jewish or not. Overall, as the only English language monograph on Has, this book is invaluable, and it also immensely instructive for any study on Polish film in general.

[Nicopsetzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A serviceable read about a serviceable filmmaker…