Interrogation (1982 film)


Interrogation is a 1982 Polish film about false imprisonment under the Stalinist pro-Soviet Polish regime in the early 1950s. An ordinary, apolitical woman refuses to cooperate with the abusive system and its officials, who are trying to force her to incriminate a former incidental lover, now an accused political prisoner. It was directed by Ryszard Bugajski. Due to its criticism of the regime, the Polish communist government banned the film from public viewing for over seven years, until the 1989 dissolution of the Eastern Bloc allowed it to see the light of day. The film had its first theatrical release in December 1989 in Poland and was entered into the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, where Krystyna Janda won the award for Best Actress and the film was nominated for the Palme d'Or.
Despite the film's controversial initial reception and subsequent banning, it garnered a cult fanbase through the circulation of illegally taped VHS copies, which director Ryszard Bugajski secretly helped to leak to the general public.

Plot

Set in 1951, the film centres around Tonia, a cabaret singer in Stalinist Poland. After she performs for soldiers, she quarrels with her husband who she feels has been too friendly with her best friend. Two men get her drunk and say they will take her home by car. Instead, she is driven to a political military prison to be arrested, imprisoned and interrogated, without being told why.
Over the course of several years, she is humiliated and bullied by prison officials into confessing to crimes she did not commit. After refusing to sign a false confession which denounces a friend, she is taken to the showers block in the basement and placed in a tiny barred cell. The water is turned on and the room slowly floods. She is released at the last moment and told to sign the confession form again, but again refuses. While in prison, she demands to see her husband. One day, he visits the prison, but is told by the officials of the infidelities she has been forced to reveal, and tells her that he does not want to see her again. She unsuccessfully attempts suicide.
She then forms a romantic relationship with one of the interrogators,, whom she tells of the absurdity of the system in which he believes. She becomes pregnant by him and, like other female inmates, is forced to give up her child for adoption. The officer secures her release and her ability to reclaim their child and then commits suicide.

Cast