At first “Sweet Rush”, based on a short story by one of Poland’s most eminent writers Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz, resembles a subtle and touching story of impossible love but Andrzej Wajda goes further, creating a multi-dimensional tale of love coming too late and death coming always to early. A middle-aged, highly cultured woman, MARTA (Krystyna Janda), married to a small town DOCTOR (Jan Englert) doesn’t know that she is terminally ill. She still mourns the death of her two sons who died during the war. One day Marta meets much younger man, a simple worker BOGUŚ (Paweł Szajda)and is fascinated by his youth and innocence. Their “dates” at the shores of the river overgrown with sweet rush are marked by a mutual fascination of life coming to a premature end and life just entering its maturity. But the fate plays the cruel trick on them: it’s Boguś who dies first, drowning entangled in the roots of sweet rush he carried for Marta.
But this is just a first layer of the story since “Sweet Rush” is also the film on making the film and the main character is the fictious Marta as well as the actress who plays her. Andrzej Wajda is intertwining Iwaszkiewicz’s story with real-life monologues of Krystyna Janda dealing with the premature death of her husband, an acclaimed cinematographer Edward Kłosiński, whom the film is dedicated to. The two women, Krystyna and Marta, thus become one – a deeply hurt human being who has to stand on her own and deal with the inescapable destiny of death.
SWEET RUSH
Sweet rush has two scents. When crushed between your fingers its green ribbon, creased in places, will emit a scent, a mild fragrance of ”water shaded by trees”, with a subtle touch of oriental balms. But when you sniff deep into a furrow, padded with something which resembles cotton wool, apart from the incense-like fragrance you can smell muddy loam, rotting fish scales or just mud. The smell of death.
When I was a child, sweet rush was used to line floors of hallways and balconies and it reigned supreme during the days of jolly, green Pentecost holidays. At the same time, sweet rush always brings to my mind the memory of my first friend who drowned at the age of thirteen. It happened at the dawn of my life, in my first childhood. So even today these dual scents evoke sad thoughts in me. The end has some mysterious rapport with the beginning. The smell of childhood finds its counterpart in the smell of senility; youth reflects in the green mirror of maturity. Such is the story of Sweet Rush.
Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Tatarak
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
After three cinematographic encounters with Iwaszkiewicz’s prose, (Birch Wood, The Maids of Wilko, June Night) I had often been thinking of another of his stories, Tatarak, but the idea for a feature length film had always been delayed by the brevity of the story. Of course, I could have combined it with another story. However, such a literary masterpiece contained within it a self-sufficient organism, which would be unlikely to absorb external bodies. Eventually, after years of wavering I came across another story which was to complement Tatarak and which provided me with the impetus to start production. Then, quite unexpectedly, I was informed by Krystyna Janda that she couldn’t participate because of her husband’s serious illness. It was Edward Kłosiński – my great friend and cinematographer on my films Man of Marble, The Promised Land, Orchestra Conductor and Man of Iron. By the time we started shooting, a year later, he had died. In spite of this I continued with the original version of the script, the starting point for which was the story of Tatarak. When we were towards the end of shooting the final episode with doctor’s wife Marta, and a young man, Boguś, Krystyna handed me a couple of pages that she herself had written. To my surprise, what I read was her description of the final days of the life of Edward Kłosiński. “Is this for me personally or do you want everyone to know about it through the film?” When she admitted that she wanted to share her experience with others, I realized that every day she returned to her hotel and, in her solitude, mused on those thoughts. Instantly, my mind conjured up those images by Hopper of lonely women in their hotel rooms.
And then I was greatly helped by Paweł Edelman, my director of photography on Sweet Rush, who suggested that only by using a totally immobile camera could we achieve what we wanted from these scenes in our film. I was 27 when I started my first film and at that time I thought we were all living just for filmmaking and that real life was purely an extension to our work. Now I know that even an actor who is totally devoted to performing still preserves an inner self because no illusion can substitute for reality. That is why I so appreciated the confessions of Krystyna, the film’s Marta. My desire to film the story of Tatarak had always been motivated by my wish to work with Krystyna Janda once again. Years ago she had started her film career in my picture Man of Marble. Thanks to these two circumstances, one with the Iwaszkiewicz prose and the other with Krystyna Janda taking the role of Marta, I have again found my own self. Whether this is visible in the film is not for me to judge.
Andrzej Wajda, director
JANDA’S STATEMENT
In my opinion, reality is more important and precious than art. Although life interfaces with art and provides eternal inspiration and the basic material for any artist, their creations can do no more than to reflect and interpret the real world. However, the need to praise and describe life motivates artists to take up the challenge and is the core of all kinds of creation, particularly, when life experiences become an „obsession”. If some day one were to research through all the first drafts of the screenplay for Sweet Rush, one would appreciate just how long and winding the road to the film’s final version has been. At the start, the only inspiration for the screenplay was a short story by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz and everything in the film was intended to be subordinate to it. But then, slowly, during the film’s long period of gestation, a contemporary element was introduced. It matured, it altered meanings and subjects, danced around Iwaszkiewicz’s story and grew apart from it. I met Andrzej Wajda again after some years of professional separation though we had never ceased being friends. During those years we had both gained much personal and work experience; we had matured as individuals and now we were delighted to be discovering each other anew. We started working with much of the same enthusiasm, determination and eagerness as in the old days. As always, we struggled with the subject chosen for the film, but we both felt that hidden beneath the surface there was another story, painful and powerful. One day Andrzej asked me if I wanted to offer it to the film. Moved and grateful, I agreed.
I entrusted my own story to this film. When taking such a decision, I didn’t know the artistic outcome of it. However, I must admit that was not crucial for me. The film has been made. It is finished. No matter how it is received by audiences, I have no regrets. Because something most precious to me has been recorded. Forever. And also because it is Andrzej Wajda’s film. There is no other film director in the world I could trust so much. Now I’m off to work on other projects and will let the film lead its own life. Hopefully, it will be successful, and audiences will receive it with appropriate sensitivity. I shall remain ever grateful for Andrzej’s courage and tact and thank everyone who participated in creating our film. Krystyna Janda
PRODUCER’S STATEMENT
Every film is a kind of encounter. This is another in a series of encounters between me and Andrzej Wajda on a film set and the fourth time that he has chosen Iwaszkiewicz’s prose for his creative substance. Yet this film was for me a truly exceptional event. The ingenious literary matter of Iwaszkiewicz’s story and the enormous emotional load offered to us by Krystyna Janda welded together. The true friendship and understanding between Krystyna and Andrzej Wajda, based on mutual trust, has resulted in a particularly moving film. Watching how this emotional polyphony took shape, I witnessed and participated in the creation of something very intimate which was, at the same time, rendered in an accurate cinematic form. This experience was greatly enriching for me. I am truly pleased to have been able to make my own contribution to the creation of this film.
Michał Kwieciński, producer
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