A deserter washes ashore. Three families must decide: mercy or betrayal?
The fate of a German found by the French peasants - a deserter from the Legion of Foreign Affairs fighting in Vietnam.
Direction
Jakubowska's patient, unflinching gaze at human cruelty.
Acting
Damięcki's slow-burn unraveling as Bernard.
Writing
Dialogue that sounds like people actually thinking out loud.
Director
Wanda Jakubowska
Damian Damięcki
Bernard Olivier
Michel Bustamante
Gaston Blachier
Mieczysław Stoor
Gerhard Schmidt
Henryk Szletyński
Bernard's father
Renata Kossobudzka
Bernard's mother
Stanisław Kwaskowski
Tinsmith, Uncle Gaston
Irena Netto
Tinsmith, Aunt Gaston
Edward Dziewoński
Wehrmacht sergeant recruiting Schmidt to the Foreign Legion
Kazimierz Talarczyk
Soldier of the Foreign Legion
Artur Młodnicki
Officer of the Foreign Legion
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Jakubowska survived Auschwitz; this was her first post-war film, transferring Holocaust trauma onto another colonial violence.
Damian Damięcki was blacklisted in Poland shortly after; this performance was nearly his last.
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