Andrzej Zulawski, the enfant terrible of Polish cinema, has published an autobiographical volume entitled The Last Word.

Besides musing about the idiosyncrasies of the film industry, the director takes the opportunity to lash out at some of his peers, not least Beata Tyszkiewicz, one of the grandes dames of Polish film.

“She is without talent, but what can one do? Right up until today she still doesn’t know how to act,” he writes in the book.

On reflection, he concedes that the aristocratic actress is not entirely devoid of worth.

 “She is a living example of how to make a career when you don’t have talent. And she has precisely one talent, and that is her bust.”

Tyszkiewicz, whose father was a count, has starred in many noted adaptions, including Wojciech Has’s The Doll and Jerzy Antczak’s Nights and Days.

Zulawski is known for not mincing his words. His approach to cinema is similarly single-minded.

“To please the majority is the requirement of the Planet Cinema,” he laments.

“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t make a concession to viewers, these victims of life, who think that a film is made only for their enjoyment, and who know nothing about their own existence.”

His 1989 adaption of Boris Godunov prompted a law suit after it was alleged that he had insulted the Russian soul. (nh)

Source: Super Express