Lesson of the Dead Language

Fall 1918. Lieutenant Alfred Kiekeritz, discharged from the military
field hospital, is transferred – as a commandant – to the Galician town
of Turka. An aesthete, ill with TB, he is well aware of his impending
death and by obsessive thinking and talking about it, he is trying to
give meaning to his fading life, for instance by collecting beautiful
objects.

One of the best films in the director’s output and
another of his works portraying the image of a vanishing world. A story
about death, about a man dying and the fading of an era – and also,
about the absurd.

directed by Janusz Majewski
written by Janusz Majewski based on Andrzej Kuśnierewicz’s novel
director of photography Zygmunt Samosiuk
music by Andrzej Kurylewicz
production design by Janusz Sosnowski, Felicja Blaszyńska
costume design by Maria Wiłun
set decorator Wiesława Chojkowska
sound by Jerzy Blaszyński, Jan Czerwiński
edited by Elżbieta Kurkowska
cast Olgierd Łukaszewicz (porucznik Kiekeritz), Ewa Dałkowska (Olga Diana, medium), Małgorzata Pritulak (dróżniczka Lisa), Gustaw Lutkiewicz (leśniczy Szwanda), Juliusz Machulski (Moszko), Irena Karel (pielęgniarka Irina), Marek Kondrat (porucznik von Traut), Piotr Pawłowski (doktor Stieglitz), Mieczysław Voit (dyrektor cyrku), Włodzimierz Boruński (Roth)
produced by Studio Filmowe TOR
production manager Tadeusz Drewno