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Polish film has long enjoyed an outstanding reputation but its best known protagonists tend to be male. This book points to the important role of women as key characters in Polish films, such as the enduring female figure in Polish culture, the "Polish Mother," female characters in socialist realistic cinema, women depicted in the films of the Polish School, Solidarity heroines, and women in the films from the postcommunist period. Not less important for the success of Polish cinema are Polish women filmmakers, four of whom are presented in this volume: Wanda Jakubowska, Agnieszka Holland, Barbara Sass and Dorota Kędzierzawska, whose work is examined.
“… an important contribution to film studies not only in Poland, but in Eastern and Central Europe in general. The authors demonstrate that women are both revered and despised in Polish culture, a phenomenon Mazierska and Ostrowska attribute to the persistence of overt patriarchy in both social relations and culture. This system of thought, they aver, has ‘shaped and policed the lives of Polish women’ for generations.” · Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
“…well researched and elegantly written. It should be of great interest to scholars interested in both Polish cinema criticism and feminist studies.” · Slavic Review
“This important book utilizes temporary feminist discourse on women’s cinema with debates specific for the Polish cinematic, cultural, and socio-political context…Carefully researched and lucidly written, the book offers a new perspective on Polish cinema and will no doubt be the primary source for any scholar interested in gender issues in the Polish context.” · Marek Haltof in Canadian Slavonic Papers
“Combining freshness of focus with close, penetrating analysis, Women in Polish Cinema is a contribution to East European film studies at once innovative and exemplary.” · Kinema
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Ewa Mazierska and Elzbieta Ostrowska
PART I: THE POLISH MOTHER
Chapter 1. The Myth of the Polish Mother
Joanna Szwajcowska
PART II: WOMEN ACCORDING TO MEN
Chapter 2. Filmic Representations of the Myth of the Polish Mother
Elzbieta Ostrowska
Chapter 3. Polish ‘Superwoman’: a Liberation or Victimisation?
Elzbieta Ostrowska
Chapter 4. Caught between Activity and Passivity: Women in the Polish School
Elzbieta Ostrowska
Chapter 5. Agnieszka and Other Solidarity Heroines of Polish Cinema
Ewa Mazierska
Chapter 6. Witches, Bitches and Other Victims of the Crisis of Masculinity: Women in Polish Postcommunist Cinema
Ewa Mazierska
Chapter 7. Between Fear and Attraction: Images of ‘Other’ Women
Elzbieta Ostrowska
PART III: WOMEN BEHIND THE CAMERA
Chapter 8. Wanda Jakubowska: the Communist Fighter
Ewa Mazierska
Chapter 9. Barbara Sass: the Author of Women’s Films
Ewa Mazierska
Chapter 10. Agnieszka Holland: a Sceptic
Elzbieta Ostrowska
Chapter 11. Dorota Kêdzierzawska: Ambivalent Feminist
Ewa Mazierska
Filmography
Bibliography
Index