Irena, a postal delivery worker, is struggling with inadequate housing, a drunk neighbor who wants to take her place, and a heartless boss, knowing that the whole day at work, she is leaving her young son. But the worst is the loneliness, exacerbated by her single mother status. She meets a crippled pensioner Jacek, who appears to be the key to her happiness, but tragedy continues to strike.
A Lonely Woman, 외로운 여인, 一个孤独的女人
USA
New York New Directors and New Films Festival
Poland
Poland
USA
A relentlessly grim, hopeless, depressing look at the life of a single mother under communist regime. Maria Chwalibóg is terrific, the aesthetics are appropriately cold and it's quite sharp with its social commentary. Kinda takes a wild turn in the final 20 odd minutes which doesn't quite go with the rest of the film but otherwise really solid especially the first hour is great.
MIFF 2019
I hadn't seen this in years and a lot of crazy stuff has happened since and all I could remember is a sad lonely woman working a postal route trying to raise her kid and I just eat that kinda sht right up. She makes next to nothing and leads a very unstable existence in government housing and in the name of some dream takes up with a man with an atrophied leg who is always on the brink of paroxysm. She is headstrong yet impressionable while he is protective yet troubled, sliding between sympathetic and volatile. Maria Chwalibog maintains firm command over her material, while Boguslaw Linda is a little bit frightening and he tends to dominate,…
This was the last film Agnieszka Holland made before leaving Poland. It was made for, and initially banned by, Telewizja Polska (TVP) and presents a bleak view of life in Poland in the Solidarity years.
The main character, Irena Misiak (Maria Chwalibóg), is barely getting by on her meagre salary delivering mail for the Post Office and raising her son Boguś (Paweł Witczak) by herself. It is a dour existence and nobody around her seems happy. The one ray of hope on her horizon, a relationship with disability pensioner Jacek (Bogusław Linda), turns out to be another illusion because the Irenas of this world do not get happy endings.
This was one of Holland's films that I had not seen…
Ermmmmmmmmmm...
I don't really know what I thought about Kobieta samotna. It just all felt a bit bizarre at the end of it.
As a commentary on life in Soviet run Poland, it is very telling - hard, bleak, depressing and quite sad. It's no wonder it was banned, because nothing it shows about this life is positive.
I think this is definitely one of those films that I will need to think on, watch again and possibly discuss at length with someone - especially the ending...well the 2 endings.
52 Films By Women: #17 Agnieszka Holland
I've been wanting to rewatch this film for ages now, but getting hold of it is a real challenge. As it happens, the BFI have just digitally remastered it and readded about 5min. of footage which was originally cut by censors in communist Poland. Hope the remastered version makes it to DVD.
I was a bit worried the film wouldn't stand the test of time for me - there are so many films I enjoyed 10-15 years ago which no longer do much for me. But this one still does. I don't think it touched me as much as the first time I watched it, but there's so so much to appreciate in…
Probably the most depressing movie I have ever seen. I kind of don't want to live anymore after watching this. Look at the poster! Even the poster is the most depressing and haunting poster I have ever seen.
It's kind of a 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' but instead of a hospital for mentally ill it's Poland. And without the funny bits. Without any colour and happiness. Without any hope.
I know I'm not advertising this movie well. Trust me, it's a good movie but I can't lie - it's the saddest piece of film I have ever experienced.
Maria Chwalibóg is spectacular. It's kind of sad she had to wait so long for her first big role and…
A Lonely Women by Agnieska Holland talks about Irena, an overworked postal delivery worker, a lonely women, a women that is disrespected by every single person including her own government due to her single mother status and a woman that is just looking for someone to be by her side and that she can be happy with. The way in which the director addresses directly a contemporary topic in the women's movement or women's liberation movement is by showing us Irenas economic, psychological and social injustice and struggles that she has to live and deal with every single day of her life. Her economic struggle is shown throughout the film. She is being overworked and barely has enough money to…
Holland provides a shocking and saddening portrait of a single mother’s life under socialism: the inaccessibility of apartments, the treatment of non-party members, and the punishing work she performs in the city. These struggles are given on an axis, where the other variable is the various failures and shortcomings of masculinity and fatherhood.
Linda plays a shy invalid, also hurt by socialism (in the mines), and appears to be the solution to the Maria Chwalibòg’s character’s problems. Despite this, he becomes more and more like the other wounded men who bring her harm.
Realizado em 1981 em coprodução do grupo X de Wajda com a TV polonesa, teve a circulação impedida pela Lei Marcial de dezembro desse ano. O filme só seria exibido em 1987, quando Holland já iniciara uma carreira internacional, entre França e Alemanha, depois EUA, e o cinema da ansiedade moral do qual faz parte já havia ficado para trás. É considerado pelos historiadores um dos filmes mais fortes do cinema polonês. A câmera na mão é operada com habilidade, o que poderia ser estudado por operadores de hoje.
