Teddy Bear (1980 film)
| Miś (Teddy Bear) | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Stanisław Bareja |
| Written by |
Stanisław Tym Stanisław Bareja |
| Starring |
Stanisław Tym Barbara Burska Christine Paul-Podlasky |
| Music by | Jerzy Derfel |
| Cinematography | Zdzisław Kaczmarek |
Release dates | 1980 |
Running time | 111 minutes |
| Language | Polish |
Teddy Bear is the English title of Miś, a 1980 cult Polish film directed by Stanisław Bareja.
Teddy Bear, along with The Cruise (Rejs), was a reflection of contemporary Polish society using surreal humor to somehow get past the censorship at the time.
Plot
Rysiek (Stanisław Tym, who also wrote the screenplay), the shrewd manager of a state-sponsored sports club, has to get to London before his ex-wife Irena (Barbara Burska) does to collect an enormous sum of money from a savings account the two used to share in happier days.
But getting out of a communist country is never easy, even for a well-connected operator like Rysiek. It seems that Irena has destroyed Rysiek's hard-won passport to strand him in Warsaw while she's off to London, forcing him to craft a Byzantine scheme which involves the production of a movie with his friend. He uses this as an opportunity to track down his look-alike "borrowing" his passport to stop his wife.
Hilarity ensues as Bareja gives the audience a guided tour of the corruption, absurd bureaucracy, pervasive bribery and flourishing black market that pervaded socialism in the People's Republic of Poland.
Cast
- Stanisław Tym as Ryszard Ochódzki and Stanisław Paluch
- Barbara Burska as Irena Ochódzka
- Krystyna Podleska (Christine Paul-Podlasky) as Aleksandra Kozel
- Krzysztof Kowalewski as Jan Hochwander
- Bronisław Pawlik as Stuwała
- Ewa Bem as herself
- Zofia Czerwińska as Irena Siwna
- Stanisław Mikulski as "Captain Ryś" a.k.a. "Wujek Dobra Rada" ("Uncle Good-Advice")
- Wojciech Pokora as Włodarczyk
- Eugeniusz Priwieziencew as a militiaman
- Hanna Skarżanka