Krzysztof Zanussi's "A Year of the Quiet Sun" (1984) is a wonderful and unforgettable film. Zanussi's name does not come up often on these boards but he is one of the finest Polish and European directors who inspired the whole new generation of Polish filmmakers, including Krzysztof Kieslowski and Agnieszka Holland. This film is a lost treasure - I never heard of it; there is only one user's comment about it on IMDb. I saw couple of earlier Zanussi's films (The Structure of Crystal and The Constant Factor) but they could not prepare me for this one, another Landscape After Battle, the simple and quiet story of love during the time of suffering. The year is 1946, the place - a small war- ravaged town that used to be a part of Germany but now is a part of Poland. The Polish widow, Emilia (Maya Komarowskaya in a performance so powerful, intense, subtle, and shining - she reminds me of Liv Ullmann in her best roles) meets an American soldier, Norman (Scott Wilson of "In Cold Blood") who involved in war-crimes investigation. Both their lives have been cruelly disrupted by the worst War of the 20th Century. Norman has seen so much suffering and death (he was a prisoner of war) - it is not easy for him to return home but he feels that the woman he met by chance and with whom he has no common language and can only communicate by gestures or rely on interpreters, could be his partner and friend for life. Emilia, who has lost her husband after only a few months of marriage and struggles to survive while taking care of her ailing mother, questions herself if it is even "right" for a human being to look for love and happiness. Slowly, these two begin to realize that no matter what you lived and you've been through, no matter how unbearable the past was and how uncertain the present is, love is possible.

I found myself so involved in the story that Zanussi and his actors told; I wished so much for the characters to find peace and happiness together but I knew that it was not an optimistic Hollywood romance I was watching. I knew that it was one of the best romance films I was watching. The camera work by Slawomir Idziak (Black Hawk Down (2001),Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993),La Double vie de Véronique(1991),and The Decalogue (1989) is above any praise as well as the original music by Wojciech Kilar (The Pianist (2002),Dracula (1992)).

The film ends with a fantasy scene that takes place in Monument Valley, where John Ford shot his "Stagecoach", the only American film that Emilia and her mother saw and they mentioned it to Norman. Scott Wilson remembers that Zanussi and the Andrei Tarkovsky visited Monument Valley on their way to the Telluride Film Festival in 1983.

From Roger Ebert's review: "Both directors vowed to film there someday. Tarkovsky died before he could. Zanussi traveled to the valley with only his cameraman, his two stars, and Wilson's wife Heavenly as crew, and they filmed the ending, which is poetic in the way it visualizes the hope of the two lovers while reflecting the poignancy of their fates."

9.5/10

"The Year of the Quiet Sun" tells of the love which blooms with considerable difficulty between an American GI and a Polish woman in postWWII Poland(?). Unlike most war romance flicks where people virtually collide with each other driven by the stark desperation and deprivation of war, this film has the pair of protags (Wilson & Komorowska) spending most of the film's almost 2 hour run tentatively sorting through their pain and suffering to find feelings they can trust to be real. There's little doubt this is an excellent film. However, it is as depressingly barren as the ravaged landscape it occupies and for many will prove to be too real to be enjoyable. Not an escapist film, "...Quiet Sun" is for realists only. In multiple languages with subtitles. (B+)

The settings and the color palette of this quiet film are bleak and lifeless, but from them arises a love story that is by turns tentative, frustrating, poignant and triumphant. "A Year of the Quiet Sun" tells the story of an extraordinary romance in three languages, the most powerful of which is silence.

Like most Americans, I had not heard of Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi. I've since learned of his considerable reputation in world cinema. If it was cemented solely on the basis of this improbable -- but entirely believable -- story of hope and love among the ruins, it would be almost enough to secure him immortality.

It's Poland in 1946. WWII is over, and Emelia (a radiant Maja Komorowska),and her ailing mother (Hanna Skarzanka),are Polish citizens returning in a crowded boxcar to a town they don't recognize, to lives so shattered rebuilding them seems beyond hopeless. Yet Emilia is philosophical, determined and nonjudgmental. She manages to create a one-room apartment for her and her mother in a bombed-out building. It's dismal, but it's home. Her fortitude is is remarkable, and her optimism begins to rub off on her mother, who slowly reverts to her sentimental, jubilant self.

Both women have earned a kind of beauty survivors often have; there is light in their eyes. Their shared sense of humor provides healing and serves as a coping mechanism. We may not understand the jokes, but it's a privilege to watch mother and daughter laugh to the point of tears.

Occasionally, Emelia goes into the countryside on her bicycle, where she sits in a burned-out car and paints. One afternoon, an American GI stops by the side of the road and proceeds to relieve himself next to the car. He is shame-faced and deeply embarrassed when he learns the car is inhabited, but also in awe of someone who can still find beauty amid such desolation. He is immediately touched by and fascinated with Emelia. Somewhat unnerved, she leaves quickly, and the soldier makes it his mission to find her again.

We have previously learned the GI's name is Norman (Scott Wilson),and that he has elected to stay behind after the war to investigate war crimes. When younger soldiers ask why he will stay when he can return home, he tells them he will leave the glory to them. Besides, he has nothing to return to in the States that holds any meaning for him.

Norman does find Emelia again, and begins making periodic visits, always bearing gifts. He brings Emelia some paints on his first trip, and later, once he's learned that she is a baker, he brings her a large box of sugar and other goods she needs to make her cakes. By prevailing standards Norman is a wealthy man, and he has connections.

But it's the gestures more than the gifts that touch Emelia, although she resists his gentle advances. She is scared, and scarred; still grieving for the husband she lost after a marriage of only a few months, and whose body she has never been able to locate to even give a proper burial.

The two cannot talk to each other. She knows almost no English; he knows no Polish. The mother hopefully asks if he speaks French. He does not. But gradually the two of them connect, and soon Norman is hopelessly in love. He desperately seeks out translators; they are hopelessly inept. Ultimately, Norman and Emelia come to see that words are unnecessary, he faster than she. They plan to marry and leave for America, but Emelia will not leave her mother behind. A subplot suggests there is a way for all of them to leave together which involves something like the "letters of transit" in Casablanca. But things fall apart, despite the mother's sacrifice for her daughter's happiness. Years later, another chance for Emelia to reunite with Norman presents itself, but is thwarted no sooner than it's begun.

The film's coda is elegiac. It is an homage to the films of John Ford, and to love that transcends language barriers, time and distance. It metaphorically reunites the lovers in Monument Valley and provides the film's final showcase for the work of cinematographer Slawomir Idziak. Emelia and Norman reprise a dance from an earlier scene in the movie which is at once joyless and technically proficient, and in its own way, elegant. It's a version of the Lindy, and it seems both utterly out of place and totally in keeping with the uncomplicated, resolute natures of the characters.

It's reasonable to ask how American actor Scott Wilson became involved with "Quiet Sun". He has never been any American director's idea of a romantic lead. He is still best remembered as one of the killers in 1967's "In Cold Blood". Wilson answers that question in an interview on the Kino DVD. He and director Zanussi met through a mutual friend in the mid-70s. They were aware of each other's work and interested in making a movie together, but it took ten years for the pieces to come together.

This is far and away Scott Wilson's best work. When he sings "Amazing Grace" on an empty train platform your heart will crack. More than 20 years later, Wilson remains in awe of Maja Koromowska and of Zanussi and his crew, who resorted to subterfuge and sometimes bribery in order to get the film they wanted made in a Communist country. Wilson is justifiably proud of his performance in "A Year of the Quiet Sun," and humbly acknowledges his wish that this wonderful film had found a larger audience.