Plot
When the
SS takes over Warsaw after the
Wehrmacht moves out, living conditions for the Jewish population gradually deteriorate as their rights are slowly eroded: first they are allowed only a limited amount of money per family, then they must wear armbands imprinted with the blue
Star of David to identify themselves, and eventually, on
Halloween 1940, they are all forced into the squalid
Warsaw Ghetto. There, they face hunger, persecution and humiliation from the SS and the ever-present fear of death, torture and starvation. The Nazis become increasingly sadistic and the family witnesses many horrors inflicted on other Jews. In one scene, a group of
Einsatzgruppen, led by an NCO, go into the apartment across from the Szpilmans. They order the family on the top floor to stand, then when an elderly man in a wheelchair is unable to comply, the SS throw him off the balcony. The rest of the family are then taken out into the street and shot, and the SS drive off, running over the bodies along the way.
Before long, the family, along with thousands of others, are rounded up as part of
Operation Reinhard for deportation to the
extermination facility at
Treblinka. As the Jews are being forced onto rail cars, Szpilman is saved at the last moment by one of the
Jewish Ghetto Police, who happens to be a family friend. Separated from his family and loved ones, Szpilman manages to survive. At first he is pressed into a German reconstruction unit inside the ghetto as a
slave labourer. During this period, another Jewish labourer confides to Szpilman two critical pieces of information: one, that many Jews who still survive know of the German plans to
exterminate them, and two, that a Jewish
uprising against the Germans is being actively prepared for. Szpilman volunteers his help for the plan. He is enlisted to help smuggle weapons into the ghetto, almost being caught at one point.
Later, before the uprising starts, Szpilman decides to go into hiding outside the ghetto, relying on the help of non-Jews who still remember him such as an ex-coworker of his from the radio station. While living in hiding, he witnesses many horrors committed by the SS, such as widespread killing, beating and burning of Jews and others (the burning is mostly shown during the two Warsaw uprisings). In 1943, Szpilman also finally witnesses the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising he helped to bring about, and its aftermath as the SS forcibly enters the
ghetto and kills nearly all the remaining insurgents. A year goes by and life in Warsaw further deteriorates. Szpilman is forced to flee his first hiding place after a mean-spirited neighbor (who's presumably the landlord, due to the way she sternly questions for his ID) detects his presence and threatens to have him detained and turned in. In his second hiding place, near a German
military hospital, in a rare moment of humor, he is shown into a room with a piano and then told to be as quiet as possible. Of course, Szpilman can't resist opening the keyboard. Here, he nearly dies due to
jaundice and
malnutrition.
In August 1944, the
Polish resistance mounts the
Warsaw Uprising against the
German occupation. Szpilman witnesses the Polish insurgents fighting the Germans outside his window. Again, Szpilman narrowly escapes death when a German tank shells the apartment he is hiding in. Warsaw is virtually razed and depopulated as a result of the fighting (see
Aftermath of the Warsaw Uprising). After the surviving Warsaw population is deported from the city ruins and the escape of German SS from the approaching
Soviet Army, Szpilman is left entirely alone. In buildings still standing, he searches desperately for food. While trying to open a can of
Polish pickles, Szpilman is discovered by a
captain of the Wehrmacht,
Wilm Hosenfeld (Kretschmann). Upon questioning Szpilman and discovering that he is a pianist, Hosenfeld asks Szpilman to play something for him on the
grand piano that happens to be in the building. The decrepit Szpilman, only a shadow of the flamboyant pianist he once was, plays an abbreviated version of
Chopin's
Ballade in G minor.
Hosenfeld lets Szpilman continue hiding in the attic of the building and even brings him food regularly, thus saving his life. Another few weeks go by, and the German troops are forced to withdraw from Warsaw due to the
advance of the Red Army troops. Before leaving the area, Hosenfeld asks Szpilman what his name is, and, upon hearing it, remarks that it is apt for a pianist (Szpilman being the Polish rendering of the German
Spielmann, meaning "man who plays"). Hosenfeld also promises to listen for Szpilman on Polish Radio. He gives Szpilman his
Wehrmacht uniform
greatcoat and leaves. Later, that coat is almost fatal for Szpilman when
Polish troops, liberating the ruins of Warsaw, take him for a German officer and shoot at him. He is eventually able to convince them that he is Polish, and they stop shooting.
As newly freed prisoners of a
concentration camp walk home, they pass a fenced-in enclosure of German
prisoners of war, guarded by Soviet soldiers. An injured German prisoner, who turns out to be Hosenfeld, calls out to the passing ex-prisoners. Hosenfeld begs one of them, a violinist of Szpilman's acquaintance, to contact Szpilman to free him. Szpilman, who has gone back to playing live on Warsaw Radio, arrives at the site too late; all the prisoners have been removed to their fates along with any trace of the stockade. In the film's final scene, Szpilman triumphantly performs Chopin's
Grand Polonaise brillante in E flat major to a large audience in Warsaw.
Title cards shown just before the end credits reveal that Szpilman continued to live in Warsaw and died in 2000, but that Hosenfeld died in 1952 in a Soviet
KGB prisoner-of-war camp, but was later posthumously honored for saving Szpilman's life and turning against his own criminal regime.
[edit]Production
The story had deep connections with director Roman Polanski because he escaped from the
Krakow Ghetto as a child after the death of his mother. He ended up living in a Polish farmer's barn until the war's end. His father almost died in the camps, but they reunited after the
end of World War II.
Joseph Fiennes was Polanski's first choice for the main role, but he turned it down due to a previous commitment to the theatre. Over 1,400 actors auditioned for the role of Wladyslaw Szpilman at a casting call in London. Unsatisfied with all who tried, director Roman Polanski sought to cast
Adrien Brody, whom he saw as ideal for the role during their first meeting in Paris.
Principal photography on
The Pianist began on 9 February 2001 in
Studio Babelsberg in
Potsdam,
Germany. The Warsaw Ghetto and the surrounding city were recreated on the
backlot of
Babelsberg Studios as they would have looked during the war. Old Soviet army barracks were used to create the ruined city, as they were going to be destroyed anyway.
The first scenes of the film were shot at the old army barracks. Soon after, the filmmakers moved to a villa in
Potsdam, which served as the house where Szpilman meets Hosenfeld. On 2 March 2001, filming then moved to an abandoned Soviet army hospital in
Beelitz, Germany. The scenes that featured the Germans destroying the hospital with flame throwers were filmed here. On 15 March filming finally moved to
Babelsberg Studios. The first scene shot at the studio was the scene in which Szpilman witnesses a resistance mounted by the Jews from the Ghetto, which is eventually ended by the Nazis. The scene was complex and technically demanding as it involved various stunts and
explosives. Filming at the studios ended on 26 March and moved to Warsaw on 29 March. The rundown district of
Praga was chosen for filming because of its abundance of original buildings. The art department built onto these original buildings, re-creating World War II–era Poland with signs and posters from the period. Additional filming also took place around Warsaw. The
Umschlagplatz scene where Szpilman, his family and hundreds of other Jews wait to be taken to the extermination camps was filmed at the
National Defence University in Warsaw.
Principal photography ended in July 2001, and was followed by months of post-production, which took place in
Paris,
France.
[edit]Critical reception
The film received extremely positive reviews from critics and Adrien Brody's performance was met with near universal acclaim. As of January 14, 2011
The Pianist holds a score of 96% on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes,
[2]. Metacritic rates the movie as 85% based on 40 reviews.
[3]Roger Ebert noted that "perhaps that impassive quality reflects what Polanski wants to say... By showing Szpilman as a survivor but not a fighter or a hero—as a man who does all he can to save himself, but would have died without enormous good luck and the kindness of a few non-Jews—Polanski is reflecting... his own deepest feelings: that he survived, but need not have, and that his mother died and left a wound that had never healed."
[4] [edit]Home release
The film was released on DVD on 26 May 2003 in a double-sided disc Special Edition DVD, with the movie on one side and special features on the other. The second side of the disc included the Bonus Material. Some Bonus Material included a making-of, interviews with Adrien Brody, Roman Polanski and Ronald Harwood, and clips of Władysław Szpilman playing the piano. Polish DVD edition included audio commentary track (in Polish) by production designer Allan Starski and director of photography Paweł Edelman.
Optimum Home Entertainment released
The Pianist to the
European market on
Blu-ray as part of their
StudioCanal Collection on September 13, 2010
[5] and this is the film's second release on Blu-ray. The first was troublesome due to issues with subtitles: the initial BD lacked subtitles for spoken German dialogue. Optimum later rectified this
[6] but the initial release also lacked notable special features. The
StudioCanal Collection version includes an extensive Behind the Scenes look as well as several interviews with the makers of the film and Szpilman's relatives
[7].
- The piano piece heard at the beginning of the film is Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor Lento con gran espressione, Op. posth.
- The piano piece that is heard being played a next door neighbour while Szpilman was in hiding at an apartment was the Mazurka in A Minor, Op. 17, No. 4 by Frederic Chopin.
- The piano music heard in the abandoned house when Szpilman had just discovered a hiding place in the attic was the Moonlight Sonataby Beethoven. It would later be revealed that German officer Hosenfeld was the pianist. The German composition juxtaposed with the mainly Polish/Chopin selection of Szpilman.
- The piano piece played when Szpilman is confronted by Hosenfeld is Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23. Also, the version played in the movie was shortened. The entire piece lasts 9-10 minutes.
- The cello piece heard at the middle of the film, played by Dorota, is the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1.
- The piano piece heard at the end of the film, played with an orchestra, is Chopin's Grande Polonaise brillante, Op. 22.
- Shots of Szpilman's hands playing the piano in close-up were provided by Polish classical pianist Janusz Olejniczak (b. 1952), who also performed on the soundtrack.
- Since Polanski wanted the film to be as realistic as possible, any scene showing Brody playing was actually his playing voiced over by recordings provided by Janusz Olejniczak. In order for Brody's playing to look like it was at the level of Władysław Szpilman's, he spent many months prior to and during the filming practicing so that his keystrokes on the piano would convince viewers that it was him playing. It was never specified whether or not it was actually Adrien Brody playing at certain points in the film such as the beginning where Władysław Szpilman's playing is interrupted by German bombing.
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