On the eve of WWII, Felicja (Barbara Krafftówna) and Wiktor (Zbigniew Cybulski) star in a production of Hamlet – he’s an established star, she’s a hesitant debutant. But their relationship shifts radically he’s forced to go into hiding and she conceals him in her flat for years. But an ungrateful Wiktor deeply resents this confinement; like all actors, he constantly craves an audience and is oblivious of the damage that his selfishness is doing to Felicja both professionally and personally. For sheer emotional range, Krafftówna gives one of the greatest female performances in Polish film history, and Cybulski one of his bravest.
