LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Andrzej Zulawski
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Andrzej Zulawski's notorious Possession (1981), a marital-meltdown-with-incubus-birth four-alarm fire that redefines the term "psychodrama," is a must-see for connoisseurs —and at 129 minutes is six to 11 crucially explosive minutes longer than video versions. Not on video in any form, Gary Sherman's Death Line (1972)—otherwise known as Raw Meat—is a daring, melancholy humanization of the zombified flesh-eater scenario, in which the last remaining spawn of trapped Victorian tunnel workers stumbles up into modern London. It's a hostile, cynical document of its place and era, while Richard Blackburn's long-fabled Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (... 1972, obviously a key year) exists in a suffocating, ur-Southern Gothic nightscape all its own. Unashamedly shoestring, Blackburn's dream odyssey through pubertal agony drips with Freudian syrup, but it's also a fervidly physical film—the midnight back alleys of Old South ghost towns are not places you'll be longing to revisit. More so even than Carnival of Souls and Night of the Living Dead, this mysterious phantasm plays like a visit to the underworld, and it may be the best film of the series.
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Andrzej Zulawski began filming after the success of _L'Important c'est d'aimer (1975)_ , completing around three-quarters of film before the Polish ministry of culture halted production in 1978. After the democratization of Poland in 1986 Zulawski completed the film. more
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Since the late '70s, Zulawski has lived and worked mostly in France, during which time he developed a knack for showcasing his actresses' talents. L'Important c'est d'aimer (1975) brought its star, Romy Schneider, a Cesar (French Oscar) as did Possession (1981) to Isabelle Adjani. He then found his muse in young actress Sophie Marceau who would star in four of his films. In 1996, he briefly returned to Poland where he made Szamanka.
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After Michael Haneke refused, literally days before the festival opened on 23 June, to be the chairman of the jury—breaking all previous agreements—the jury of the 28th Moscow International Film Festival was headed by Andrzej Zulawski. In arriving at its decisions, Zulawski’s jury reached a verdict without having to discuss matters into the early hours of the morning as frequently happens, and its decision was practically unanimous. Prior to announcing the winners, Pan Zulawski formulated some criteria that should not be forgotten, he said, especially by critics: people should ask themselves whether they would buy a ticket to see this or that film. Critics should descend from their clouds and step onto the ground, rather than retreat into some non-existent world. As a rule, one should not leave the theater before a film’s end, something that not everybody always manages to do. If people want to leave during a film, the film’s review should reflect that fact.
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Zulawski's version of Lisztomania, exaggerating the romantic era of Chopin. The ailing Chopin, his lover, her seductive daughter who captures the heart of Chopin, and a slew of celebrity, artist guests stay at a country home. There is not much plot, and instead the movie focuses on a portrayal of the era as extravagantly romantic, and wildly passionate. All the celebrities act melodramatically, talking poetically, performing, swooning, moving with exaggerated flourishes and gestures, behaving childishly and selfishly with each other, etc. Even the professional pianist plays wildly on his piano with wild and crude raw emotion and sentimentalism. Circus performers and mysterious hooded figures move around the forests and the rooms while one of the guests builds look-alike puppets of all the guests and makes them perform theatrics.
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A political allegory wrapped in the guise of a gory horror film, Andrzej Zulawski s THE DEVIL did not escape the wrath of communist censorship. The film was banned in Poland for 15 years, before getting a sporadic release in 1987
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Andrzej Zulawski