The Story of Sin

Director: Walerian Borowczyk

1975 / 130min / DCP

“Arguably Borowczyk’s greatest critical and commercial success, The Story of Sin is not only the filmmaker’s sole feature shot in his native Poland, but also an impassioned, near-delirious rendition of on-screen amour fou. Based on a minor work by positivist writer Stefan Żeromski, Borowczyk embraces melodrama to tell the tale of a picaresque fall from grace. As Ewa, Grażyna Długołęcka takes us on a breakneck journey across journey from angelic Catholic daughter in Warsaw to demonic prostitute in Rome. Filmed almost completely handheld by the great Polish cinematographer Zygmunt Samosiuk, The Story of Sin helped ink in the alternative Polish cinema of immoral concern.”—Daniel Bird, series curator