''At Full Gallop'' ( pl, Cwał, and also known as ''In Full Gallop'') is a 1996 Polish

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

tragicomedy film written and directed by

Krzysztof Zanussi Krzysztof Pius Zanussi (born 17 June 1939) is a Polish film and theatre director, producer and screenwriter. He is a professor of European film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland where he conducts a summer workshop. He is ...

, starring Maja Komorowska, Bartosz Obuchowicz, Karolina Wajda,

Piotr Adamczyk Piotr Aleksander Adamczyk (; born March 21, 1972) is a Polish film, television, voice and theatre actor. He is known for portraying pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin in the biographical film ''Chopin: Desire for love'' (2002), Pope John Pau ...

, Piotr Szwedes, Andrzej Szenajch, with Halina Gryglaszewska, Sławomira Łozińska,

Stanisława Celińska Stanisława Celińska (born 29 April 1947 in Warsaw, Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has ...

, Krystyna Bigelmajer,

Agnieszka Warchulska Agnieszka Warchulska (born 15 May 1972, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Poland) is a Polish actress. Filmography *1996: '' Cwał'' *1997: '' Wojenna narzeczona'' *1997: '' Linia opóźniająca'' *1997: '' Sława i chwała'' *1998: '' Pierwszy milion ...

, Grzegorz Warchoł, Jan Prochyra, Stephen Kember, Eugeniusz Priwiezieńcew,

Lew Rywin Lew Rywin (born 10 November 1945 in a Nizhnyeye Alkeyevo, USSR) is a Polish film producer associated with Heritage Films (est. 1991). He has also been a member of the Polish Radio and TV committee and worked in an agency, Poltel, producing for P ...

, and Mario Di Nardo in supporting roles. Zanussi has described the film as his most

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

work. It was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the

1996 Cannes Film Festival The 49th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1996 in film, 1996. The Palme d'Or went to ''Secrets & Lies (film), Secrets & Lies'' by Mike Leigh. The festival opened with ''Ridicule (film), Ridicule'', directed by Patrice Leconte and cl ...

. The film was selected as the Polish entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

69th Academy Awards The 69th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) took place on March 24, 1997, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the cerem ...

, but was not accepted as a nominee.

Plot

A young boy in post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Communist-dominated Poland, whose father's decision to remain in the United Kingdom after the war has made his family politically-suspect with the local Party authorities, is sent by his mother to stay with an "aunt" (in reality an old family friend) in the capital,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. Ida is a strong-willed, single, middle-aged woman who has found her own ways of surviving in the Communist-run society (which sometimes involves her charming powerful older men, as well as maintaining two different sets of identity papers). She gets Hubert admitted to one of the city's best schools by portraying him as the orphan of a war hero. But she also shares with him her own passion for horses, at a time when riding is seen by many officials as a relic of the old

aristocratic class The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

. Hubert himself, meanwhile, struggles to understand how it can be right for a good

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

to lie in order to survive under Communism."In Full Gallop" : Overview. Movies. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Cast

* Maja Komorowska as Aunt Idalia Dobrowolska * Bartosz Obuchowicz as Hubert * Karolina Wajda as Rozmaryna *

as Ksawery * Piotr Szwedes as Dominik * Andrzej Szenajch as cavalry captain * Halina Gryglaszewska as Idalia's aunt * Sławomira Łozińska as Hubert's mother *

as Justyna Winewar (minister's wife) * Krystyna Bigelmajer as teacher *

as headteacher * Grzegorz Warchoł as LZS director * Jan Prochyra as UB officer interrogating Hubert's mother * Stephen Kember as British diplomat * Eugeniusz Priwiezieńcew as public prosecutor *

as minister * Mario Di Nardo as Italian diplomat

Filming

The film was mostly shot in

Czerwińsk nad Wisłą Czerwińsk nad Wisłą is a town in Płońsk County, Masovian Voivodeship, in central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Czerwińsk nad Wisłą. It lies on the Vistula (''Wisła'') river, approximately s ...

and

Łąck Łąck is a village in Płock County, Masovian Voivodeship, in central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Łąck. It lies approximately south-west of Płock and west of Warsaw. The village has a popu ...

References

External links

* 1990s biographical drama films 1990s political comedy-drama films 1996 comedy-drama films 1996 films Biographical films about children Polish biographical drama films Polish comedy-drama films Polish historical films 1990s Polish-language films Films about horses Films about Soviet repression Films directed by Krzysztof Zanussi Films scored by Wojciech Kilar Films set in the 1950s Films set in Warsaw Films shot in Poland Self-reflexive films Stalinism in Poland Tragicomedy films {{Poland-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Filming

See also

References

External links