Innocent Sorcerers (Niewinni czarodzieje) (1960)

He (T. Łomnicki) is a young sports doctor who plays jazz after hours. She (K. Stypułkowska) is a high school student who goes to the jazz club. They meet to play a male/female game for one night. They take pseudonyms (Basil and Pelagia), which seems to be like masks hiding their sensitivity. In fact, they are the title “innocent sorcerers” who try to “poison” their hope for love – as is stated in the quotation from Dziady, which was an inspiration for the filmmakers, when they’ve created the title. Protagonists agree on the scenario of their date: “a glass of vodka, first kiss, intelligent conversation and a bed, or rather a couch”. Then they move on to the “undress” game. Who will win and who will lose in the game? Who will be able to pretend indifference for the longest time?

The film is Andrzej Wajda’s response to the emerging new tendencies of contemporary moral cinema, namely the New Wave. After inviting Jerzy Andrzejewski to work on the script, he realized that an older generation writer would not be able to write credible dialogues between two young people. The help of Jerzy Skolimowski, then a young poet and boxer, who only became involved in film after this experience, turned out to be irreplaceable. In addition to dialogues, the new wave atmosphere of the film was created by a jazz composition by Krzysztof Komeda. Apart from Komeda, the film featured music by Andrzej Trzaskowski (trumpet) – the leader of “Jazz Believers”, Andrzej Wojciechowski (saxophone) – from the “Melomani” band, Jan Zylber (perscussion). Roman Polański (double bass) played the role of the band’s leader. The song “Była pogoda” (music by K. Komeda) is performed by Sława Przybylska.