Krystyna Janda has been tipped to play the part of revolutionary scientist Maria Sklodowska-Curie in a new motion picture.

The Polish-Hungarian co-production will show how an ill-starred romance helped to fire the scientist's resolve, as well as her struggles to triumph over the odds in her adopted country.

“I have always made films about strong women,” Hungarian director Marta Meszaros told Gazeta Wyborcza.

“But she [Maria Sklodowska-Curie] had a tragic life. She didn't like France and the French didn't like her, especially when she won her second Nobel Prize in 1911.”

As a young lady in Poland, Maria Sklodowska-Curie had a momentous romance with Kazimierz Zierakowski, a landowner's son. However, Zierakowski's parents forbade the marriage on account of her modest means. On account of this, the aspiring scientist went to study in Paris. Her future husband, Pierre Curie was ultimately killed in a road accident.

Meszaros says she is committed to working with Krystyna Janda in the role, citing her “energy” and “her desire for the truth.”

“It must be a Pole,” the director stressed, noting Janda's “wise” eyes. “Sklodowska had the same. They are very similar in pictures”

The script for the film has already been penned by Meszaros in cooperation with Polish screenwriter Maciej Karpinski.

Underlining the impassioned character of her subject, the director notes the backlash the scientist had to endure for her affair with physicist Paul Langevin following her husband's death.

“She had romances that were meaningful for her,” Meszaros reflects. “Einstein said that he had never seen such eroticism in a woman's eyes.” (nh)