''Salto'' is a 1965 Polish

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

Tadeusz Konwicki Tadeusz Konwicki (22 June 1926 – 7 January 2015) was a Polish writer and film director, as well as a member of the Polish Language Council. Life Konwicki was born in 1926 as the only son of Jadwiga Kieżun and Michał Konwicki in Nowa Wilejka, ...

. It was released on 11 June 1965 in Poland. The director of photography is Kurt Weber and the music is by

Wojciech Kilar Wojciech Kilar (; 17 July 1932 – 29 December 2013) was a Polish classical and film music composer. One of his greatest successes came with his score to Francis Ford Coppola's '' Bram Stoker's Dracula'' in 1992, which received the ASCAP Award ...

. The title can be translated as "somersault" in English, or it can be seen as a reference to a rhythmic dance movement. The film received an Honorary Diploma at the

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

, 1967.

Plot

The film tells the story of a man who jumps off a train into a sparsely populated town. He is "a crazy guy who drops into a kind of ghost town and tells various cockamamie stories, and the citizens aren't sure if they remember him or not". The crazy man "claims to have hidden in this town during the war", and he confronts a number of people, being "alternately hostile, tender, understanding, accusing, cowering, ndpassive-aggressive"; but the townspeople do not seem to remember him.

Style

The film is "mostly a lot of curious confrontations, both intellectual and earthy, conveyed in a fluid camera style with disorienting transitions". The film uses a "graceful combination of fluid camera work within each scene and disorienting

jump cut A jump cut is a cut (transition), cut in film editing in which a single continuous sequential shot of a subject is broken into two parts, with a piece of footage being removed in order to render the effect of jumping forward in time. Camera posit ...

s between scenes, which give the whole thing its dreamlike flow". The film depicts a Poland which is "irrevocably haunted" by war. In the film, the "memories of a wartime execution are no longer flashbacks but appear as a series of nightmarish dreams, edging closer and closer to reality". The film is "a commentary on the complex fate of his generation". It has been described as

Kafkaesque Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typi ...

Cast

Zbigniew Cybulski Zbigniew Hubert Cybulski (; 3 November 1927 – 8 January 1967) was a Polish actor, one of the best-known and most popular personalities of the post-World War II history of Poland. Life Zbigniew Cybulski was born 3 November 1927 in a small v ...

as Karol Kowalski vel Malinowski *

Gustaw Holoubek Gustaw Teofil Holoubek (21 April 1923 – 6 March 2008) was a Polish actor, director, member of the Polish Sejm, and a senator. Holoubek participated in the September Campaign and was a prisoner of war during the Nazi German Occupation of P ...

as the Host *

Marta Lipińska Marta Lipińska (born 14 May 1940) is a Polish actress. She appeared in more than 40 films and television shows since 1962. Selected filmography * '' Katastrofa'' (1965) * '' Salto'' (1965) * '' Nad Niemnem'' (1986) References External links ...

as Helena *

Irena Laskowska Irena Laskowska (15 March 1925 – 6 December 2019) was a Polish actress. She appeared in more than 40 films and television shows between 1948 and 2003. Selected filmography * '' The Last Day of Summer'' (1958) * ''Milczące ślady ''Mi ...

as Cecylia *

Wojciech Siemion Wojciech Juliusz Siemion (30 July 1928 – 24 April 2010) was a Polish stage and film actor. He studied law at the Catholic University in Lublin from 1947 to 1950. At the same time, he attended acting classes at a local theatre. He enrolle ...

as the Artist * Włodzimierz Boruński as Blumenfeld *

Andrzej Łapicki Andrzej Łapicki (11 November 1924 – 21 July 2012) was a Polish film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1947 and 1999. He was married twice. His first marriage to Zofia Chrząszczewska lasted from 1947 to her death in 2005. He then mar ...

as Pietuch * Jerzy Block in the role of the Old man *

Zdzisław Maklakiewicz Zdzisław Maklakiewicz (9 July 1927 in Warsaw – 9 October 1977) was a Polish actor. He was the nephew of composers Jan and Tadeusz Maklakiewicz. Biography During World War II, Maklakiewicz served in the Home Army. He took part in the Warsa ...

as Rotmistrz *

Iga Cembrzyńska Maria Elżbieta "Iga" Cembrzyńska (born 2 July 1939) is a Polish actress, singer, composer, screenwriter, film director, and producer. She runs her own film company, ''Iga Film''. She was the wife of Polish film director Andrzej Kondratiuk. Fir ...

Music

The score by Wojciech Kilar includes a "stately, delicate piano piece" during the opening credits. While there is "no background music during the film", the climax of the story depicts a town festival at which a "small band of piano, drums, double-bass, guitar, clarinet and trumpet" plays a "beautiful waltz" and the "title dance, the salto", which has a "driving rhythm".

References

{{Reflist 1965 films 1960s Polish-language films Films scored by Wojciech Kilar Polish black-and-white films