HOLLAND, AGNIESZKA

(1948-)

Prominent director-scriptwriter whose films made in Poland and abroad received numerous awards. After graduating in 1971 from the Prague Film School (FAMU), Holland began her career assistingKrzysztof Zanussion hisIllumination(Iluminacja, 1973). Between 1972 and 1981, she was a member ofAndrzej Wajda'sfilm unit Xand the leading representative of theCinema of Distrust. She started her career with twotelevision films,An Evening with Abdon(Wieczór u Abdona, 1975) andSunday Children(Niedzielne dzieci, 1976). During the Cinema of Distrust period she directed several films that were thinly veiled metaphors for Poland's politics. InProvincial Actors(Aktorzy prowincjonalni, 1979), awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival, Holland depicted a group of discontented young actors unable to fulfill their artistic dreams. InFever(Gorączka, 1981), a story about terrorism, she dealt with the young Polish revolutionaries fighting the tsarist regime in 1905. In 1981 Holland produced for Polish television one of the darkest and most brutally honest films ever made in Poland:A Woman Alone(Kobieta samotna, released in 1988). Unfolding in a series of episodes, the film concerns a single mother, the postal worker Irena (Maria Chwalibóg), who struggles in a joyless Polish reality. Her new relationship with the equally unhappy, young but handicapped ex-miner Jacek (Bogusław Linda) offers her a short-lived chance to change her life.

Holland also worked as a scriptwriter for several films directed by her mentor—Wajda—among themFestival of Polish FilmswinnerRough Treatment(Bez znieczulenia, 1978) andKorczak(1990).She scripted Yurek Bogayevicz'sAnna(1987) and collaborated closely with her friendKrzysztof Kieślowski, for example on hisThree Colors Trilogy(she is acknowledged as a "script consultant"). In addition, Holland appeared in supporting roles inRyszard Bugajski'sInterrogation(1982) and Kieslowski'sThe Scar(1976), among others.

After the declaration of martial law in December 1981, Holland decided to remain in France. Later she directed a number of internationally acclaimed films in Germany, France, and the United States. In Germany she madeAngry Harvest(Bittere Ernte, 1985), aHolocaustdrama examining the relationship between a gentile farmer and a Jewish woman, for which she received an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Even more successful was her next Holocaust film,Europa, Europa(1991), the story of a young Jewish man who survives the war by concealing his identity, for which she received several awards, including a Golden Globe. Holland's French films includeTo Kill a Priest(1988), the political story based on Polish priest Jerzy Popiełuszko's tragic death;Olivier, Olivier(1992); andTotal Eclipse(1995, French-English coproduction), the latter film dealing with the homosexual love affair between Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis).

Holland's Hollywood films include twoadaptationsof classic literary works:The Secret Garden(1993), an adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel, andWashington Square(1997), a faithful adaptation of Henry James's novel. Her list of films also includesThe Third Miracle(1999), an unusual religious film dealing with the nature of miracles and spirituality, and the television dramaShot in the Heart(2001, HBO). Holland's Canadian-German-Polish coproductionJulia Walking Home(akaThe Healer), which was released in 2003, received mixed reviews.

Other films:Something for Something(Coś za coś, TV, 1977),Screen Tests(Zdjęciapróbne, 1977, with Paweł Kędzierski andJerzy Domaradzki),Largo desolato(TV, 1991, France),Golden Dreams(2001, United States),Copying Beethoven(2006, United States).