Details:
THE PIANIST   By Roman POLANSKI
French title: Le Pianiste
Director : Roman Polanski
First release : 2002
Duration : 150 minutes
Genre : Biography, Historic Drama
Country: France
Language : French with English subtitles

Synopsis: 

Music was his passion. Survival was his masterpiece!

During the WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.

Plot: 

In this adaptation of the autobiography “The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945,” Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jewish radio station pianist, sees Warsaw change gradually as World War II begins. Szpilman is forced into the Warsaw Ghetto, but is later separated from his family during Operation Reinhard. From this time until the concentration camp prisoners are released, Szpilman hides in various locations among the ruins of Warsaw.

Director Roman Polanski considers this his best film. At the end of the documentary Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir (2011), interviewer Andrew Braunsberg asks him which of his own films he believes to be absolutely perfect, and wouldn’t change a frame if he could. To this, Polanski replies: “If any film cannisters were to be placed on my grave, I’d like them to be The Pianist’s”.

Some interesting facts!

The music played for the German officer in the film was actually an edit of Frédéric Chopin’s Ballade No.1 in G Minor, (Op. 23, No. 1). In real life, Wladyslaw Szpilman played Chopin’s Nocturne No.1 in C# Minor.

The film was in pre-production when the real Szpilman died. Daniel Szpilman, the real grandson of the main character Wladyslaw Szpilman, plays the part of the boy in the ghetto (on the market place and later again on the Umschlagplatz).

Roman Polanski himself experienced the Holocaust. His parents were sent to two different concentration camps: his father to Mauthausen-Gusen in Austria, where he survived the war, and his mother to Auschwitz where she was murdered.

Cast :     Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay

About the film:

Adrien Brody became the youngest person to date to win an Academy Award for Best Actor when he won for this film at the age of 29.

The grand list of awards nominated and won by the film The Panist :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accolades_received_by_The_Pianist

 

Trailer: