Andrzej Żuławski

Andrzej Żuławski (22 November 1940 – 17 February 2016) was a Polish film director and writer. He was born in Lwów, Poland, now Ukraine. Żuławski often went against mainstream commercialism in his films, and enjoyed success mostly with European art-house audiences.

In the late 1950s, he studied cinema in France. His second feature The Devil (1972) was banned in Poland, and Żuławski went to France. After the success of That Most Important Thing: Love in 1975, he returned to Poland where he spent two years making On the Silver Globe (1988). The work on this film was interrupted by the Polish authorities. After that, Żuławski moved to France where he became known for controversial and violent art-house films. Żuławski is also known for his work with certain specific actresses including Romy Schneider, Isabelle Adjani and Sophie Marceau.

His films have received 16 awards at various international film festivals. Żuławski has also written several novels, for example: Il était Un Verger, Lity Bór (a.k.a. La Forêt Forteresse), W Oczach Tygrysa, and Ogród Miłości.

Żuławski was an assistant of Andrzej Wajda. When his second film The Devil was banned in Poland he decided to move to France, where he made That Most Important Thing: Love (1975) with Romy Schneider.

After returning to Poland he worked for two years on a film which the authorities did not allow him to finish (On the Silver Globe), based on a book by his great-uncle Jerzy Żuławski. Since then he has lived and worked mostly in France, making art films.

Being a maverick who always defied mainstream commercialism, Żuławski enjoyed success mostly with the European art-house audiences. His wild, imaginative, and controversial pictures have received 16 awards at various international film festivals. He also wrote the novels Il était Un Verger, Lity Bór (a.k.a. La Forêt Forteresse), W Oczach Tygrysa, and Ogród Miłości.

He was in a relationship for sixteen years with the French actress Sophie Marceau, with whom he made four films over a 15-year period (L'Amour braque, My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days, La Note bleue, Fidelity). They had a son Vincent together. They broke up in 2001.

In 2006 he was the Head of the Jury at the 28th Moscow International Film Festival.

On 17 February 2016, Andrzej Żuławski died at hospital in Warsaw, from a cancer.

Filmography (selected)

• The Third Part of the Night (1971)
• The Devil (1972)
• That Most Important Thing: Love (1975)
• Possession (1981)
• The Public Woman (1984)
• L'Amour braque (1985)
• Malady of Love (1987), writer
• On the Silver Globe (1988) [partially lost film]
• My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days (1989)
• Boris Godunov (1989)
• The Blue Note (1991)
• Szamanka (1996)
• Fidelity (2000)
• Cosmos (2015)