Directed by:
Feliks FalkScreenplay:
Grzegorz ŁoszewskiCinematography:
Bartosz ProkopowiczComposer:
Bartłomiej GliniakCast:
Andrzej Chyra, Malgorzata Kozuchowska, Kinga Preis, Grzegorz Wojdon, Jan Frycz, Slawomir Orzechowski, Marian Dziedziel, Marian Opania, Mieczyslaw Grabka (more)Plots(1)
The rise and fall of a Warsaw 'Yuppie' – in just 48 hours. Lucek Bohme is a bailiff, his job is to seize goods. Whenever companies get into debt and institutions or individuals fail to meet their obligations, he is on the spot to impound anything of value. His behaviour when dealing with victims – regardless of their social standing – is both casual and arrogant. His job makes him feel powerful. But his self-confidence is beginning to take on alarming proportions. One day, he is at the home of a family who are behind in their payments when he realises that he is about to seize a musical instrument belonging to the daughter of the woman with whom he was very much in love during his schooldays. Considerably more vexing is the suicide committed by another of his victims. The young man in question has hung himself of all places in the stairwell directly opposite the door to Lucek's own office. These two incidents have a lasting effect on Lucek. For the first time in his life, he begins to give some serious thought to what he does. However, his inflated sense of self-worth makes him blind to the danger that arises from this. Failing to notice that corrupt colleagues and superiors have set him up, he suddenly finds himself arrested under suspicion of having accepted bribes. (Berlinale)
(more)Reviews (1)
A study of an ambitious careerist who was stopped in his tracks by those he threatened with his drive upwards. The film is built on the charismatic performance of Andrzej Chyra and it is because of him that The Collector is worth watching. He lends credibility to his anti-hero and truly embodies negative charisma. Negative protagonists have always been more enjoyable for actors than righteous characters, and Chyra's collector is certainly more believable as a ruthless official trying to take a child's favorite harmonica than as a man tormented by feelings of guilt and regret, praying to the Virgin Mary. The first half of the film is excellent, but unfortunately, the script stumbles in the second half because the motivations of the characters are not credible and the plot on which the collector's downfall is portrayed is a bit messed up. Overall impression: 60%. Thematically, it reminds me a bit of Szabo's Colonel Redl...
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