Chopin:
Desire of Love, directed by Jerzy Antczak, is a biopic
of Poland's most famous composer. The film begins in 1830,
when Poland is under Russian occupation. A knock at the
door summons Fryderyck Chopin (played by Piotr Adamczak)
in the middle of the night to play for Duke Constantine
Pawlowicz (played by Janusz Gajos), the tsar's governor
of Poland. Similar impulsive displays of the Russian convince
Chopin's father (played by Jerzy Zelnik) to send his son
to Paris so that he can fulfill his destiny as a great
composer. However, upon arrival Chopin discovers that publishers
in Paris are unimpressed with his deeply emotional compositions,
so he vows in 1831 to head for America. At a final invitation,
issued by the Countess Charlotte Rothschild, (played by
Anna Korcz) he achieves the recognition not only of Ferenc
Lizst (played by Michal Konarski) and the patrons of her
salon but also, from afar, of Georg Sand (played by Danuta
Stenka). The film now becomes a minibiopic of Sand, who
has cast out a husband and a lover, is unable to fulfill
writing obligations, and decides that she cannot live without
a romantic relationship. She focuses her amorous attention
on Chopin, who instead has his heart set on the hand of
a fiancée in Warsaw, but alas her father demurs,
and Chopin stops waiting. Then Chopin is stricken by pneumonia.
Sand (whom Chopin soon calls by her real name Aurora) takes
advantage of the situation to lavish attention on Chopin,
nursing him back to health. However, Aurora is walking
a tightrope between carrying on a love affair with Chopin,
who soon develops "galloping consumption" (a
slowly developing case of tuberculosis), and caring for
her two children. Salonge (played as a teenager by Bozena
Stachura) eventually tries to become a rival of her mother
for Chopin's attention, but is spurned, eventually marrying
Jean Baptiste Auguste Clesinger (played by Krzysztof Gosztyla),
who is sculpting a bust of the novelist. Her neurotic son
Maurice (played by Adam Woronowicz), however, is jealous
of the fact that Chopin is having sex with his mother,
evidently feeling that he will be disinherited. When Maurice
forces his mother to choose between her two men, Chopin
withdraws and spends the last two years of his life only
with the companionship of his trusted servant. A note in
1849 summons his sweetheart from Poland, and she arrives
in time to comfort him as he dies. Chopin:
Desire of Love is filled with his music, doubtless persuading filmviewers
that Chopin remains the foremost composer of the piano
of all time. MH
I
want to comment on this film
