Skolimowski, Jerzy (1938– )

Polish film director. Formerly a writer, he became active in both his own country and other parts of Europe for his personal films, usually literary adaptations or dark political dramas. These include Deep End (1970), The Lightship (1975), The Shout (1978), Moonlighting (1982), Torrents of Spring (1989), and 30 Door Key (1991). His films often concentrate on outsiders, people who are either literally or metaphorically displaced, which reflects Skolimowski's own position as an émigré artist.

He made his debut film, Rysopis/Identification Marks, in 1964; it was followed by two movies with the same protagonist, a young man in contemporary Poland, played by Skolimowski himself. The last one, Rece do gory/Hands Up! (1967), was shelved due to its critical portrayal of Polish Stalinism, and precipitated Skolimowski's decision to leave Poland. From then he has worked in several countries, including the UK.

In the UK, where Skolimowski enjoyed his greatest successes in the 1970s and early 1980s, his best-known films are The Shout and Moonlighting. The first film, based on a novella by Robert Graves, depicts a madman, or perhaps genius, who has supernatural powers, including the ability to kill with his shout. Moonlighting was Skolimowski's quirky response to the introduction of martial law in his native Poland in December 1981, and although the film is ostensibly about Polish problems, it also captures the mood of Thatcherite Britain, with its stringent division between rich and poor. Of his later films, the most significant is 30 Door Key, based on the novel Ferdydurke by the Polish émigré author Witold Gombrowicz.

Skolimowski also took up painting, which he has come to regard as a greater passion than cinema. He also occasionally plays small roles in films, including Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (1996), and Before Night Falls (2000).