Screening to mark its director’s centenary, The Story Of Sin is the only film made by Walerian Borowczyk in his native Poland. This film, relatively restrained by the filmmaker’s usual standards (see The Beast, 1975), follows the decline in fortunes of Ewa (Grażyna Długołęcka) brought about by her inextinguishable love for a married man, Łukasz (Jerzy Zelnik). When the pious, chaste young woman is seduced and abandoned by the man, she follows him across Europe, her desperate search leading to an ever more precipitous fall from grace. Borowczyk’s masterful manipulation of melodramatic conventions was a huge hit in his homeland, and remains a fine example of work from a singular director.

Notes by Kevin Coyne

Screening as part of Kinopolis Polish Film Festival 2023, December 7th – 10th.