After a string of hard-hitting political works that roused the censors’ ire and brought him into the international spotlight, Wajda deliberately changed pace with this wistful, elegiac, almost Chekhovian recreation of a long-vanished Poland, based on a story by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. Following the death of a close friend, 40-year-old farm manager Wiktor (Daniel Olbrychski) returns to the village where he spent his youth. Next door, five sisters Wiktor knew have gathered for the summer. The inviting tranquility of the women’s lazy summer days hardly conceals the sense of sadness that runs through their lives; and the return of Wiktor, who had loved a sister who has since died, upsets their delicate emotional balance.

Please note that all screenings of this film will take place in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center.