Director: Grzegorz Królikiewicz
Screenplay: Grzegorz Królikiewicz
Starring: Franciszek Trzeciak, Anna Nieborowska, Irena Ladosiówna, Lucyna Winnicka, Ewa Zdzieszynska, Halina Szram-Kijowska, Jerzy Block, Aleksander Czajczynski
Country: Poland
Running time: 74 min
Year: 1973
BBFC Certificate: 15
Director Grzegorz Królikiewicz and his works are largely unknown outside of Poland, but thanks to the Radiance label that is hopefully now going to change with their release of his outstanding, challenging, feature debut, Through and Through. It’s incredibly expressionistic, avant-garde and is not an easy watch, but it’s ultimately incredibly rewarding and a tantalising taste of a remarkable director.
The film is based on a true crime story which took place in Krakow, Poland, in 1933. It follows the married couple Jan (Franciszek Trzeciak) and Maria (Anna Nieborowska) who are struggling with their lot in life. They live in dire poverty and are frequently humiliated by those they come into contact with. Jan attempts to get a job as an architect but is unsuccessful.
They desperately attempt to change their lives by committing a robbery, but it ultimately turns into the murder of their elderly, disabled neighbour and they are soon caught and put on trial. The film follows their lives up to this point, the shocking robbery and murder, and the couple’s subsequent trial for the crime.
We get a sense early on of the depths our lead couple find themselves in, and soon Jan loses a job for being late and we are plunged further into a life of misery and despair. Maria shows this best when she breaks down in tears whilst brushing her hair, banging her hand down on her lap, a ball of frustration at her life. Jan watches on and then sits with his back to his wife, seemingly not knowing what to do, and thinking back to their wedding day, which they marked alone in an empty church. They live an isolated life, unable to make it in a harsh world.
In that early scene when we see Jan lose his job, he is talked down to, and he’s humiliated again when trying to take an architect’s job, this time in front of Maria. He is then lambasted by his brother, at the expense of his wife, who again witnesses this. It seems that anytime Jan is with someone other than Maria, even when she is there, he is degraded. The humiliation adds to the pressure the couple are facing, which builds and builds and pushes them to breaking point, and ultimately the central crime, which I’ll return to shortly.
The whole film is shot by cinematographer Bogdan Dziworski in a documentary and almost voyeuristic style; the camera moving around as if it is a person, observing what is unfolding in front of them. We’re often observing the couple, not hearing what they have to say, with visual clues and facial features giving us everything we need to know.
There’s a striking sequence early on when the camera backs away from the couple, enters a lift and goes up in it, observing others in the block of flats before descending again and returning to the couple.
Another standout sequence is the murder of the elderly lady, which is filmed in extreme close-up. It’s an incredibly tough, brutal and tense watch, with limited use of music, but intense use of sound effects.
The courtroom scenes are also filmed in an expressionistic style, with close-ups of the husband and wife interspersed with shots of tables and other objects, as the couple seek to explain why they did what they did.
It’s all breathtaking stuff which builds to an inevitably devastating and downbeat finale, where the sentences for the couple are given as a narration.
The soundscape is also off-kilter, a mixture of a really strong and ominous score by Henryk Kuźniak and Janusz Hajdun and other-worldly sound effects. It adds no end to the atmosphere of the film and had me on tenterhooks from the opening titles, bracing myself for what was to unfold. Large sequences play out with just music and sound effects.
The film and works of Królikiewicz have been described as similar to some of the latter works of the great French director Jean-Luc Godard, whilst the movie has a feel of Terrence Malick’s Badlands about it. It’s easy to see why those comparisons have been made, but ultimately it is its own striking piece of cinema.
One of the beauties of boutique Blu-ray labels is how they bring to attention the undiscovered or forgotten; the directors, stars and films that should be better known. Radiance have certainly achieved that with their release of Through and Through, a remarkable expressionistic and avant-garde feature debut from director Królikiewicz, which is incredibly memorable and a high watermark in Polish cinema. I hope it will lead to Królikiewicz and the film getting the attention they deserve, and that it’ll also pave the way for more of the director’s works finding a home on UK Blu-ray.
Film: 
Through and Through is released on limited edition Blu-ray by Radiance on 18th August 2025. The picture quality is phenomenal, with a first class 2K restoration rich with detail, retaining the filmic look and feel, and showcasing the inky black and white cinematography. There’s a strong visual depth and clarity and a lot of fine detail, just check out the frequent motifs of the rope and table. The audio is also great.
Limited edition Blu-ray features
New 2K restoration supervised by cinematographer Bogdan Dziworski
Uncompressed mono PCM audio
New interview with critic Michał Oleszczyk (2025, 38 mins)
Three short films by Grzegorz Królikiewicz: Everyone Gets What They Don’t Need (1966, 12 mins), Brothers (1971, 7 mins), Don’t Cry (1972, 10 mins)
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by critic Ela Bittencourt
Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
I’ve been a fan of Michał Oleszczyk’s interviews and appreciations on prior Radiance and Second Run releases, so was very pleased to see he was providing a piece on this disc. The 38-minute interview is typically detailed and delivered in an engaging way. Oleszczyk covers plenty of background on the film and its director. He describes the film as the best made in Poland and highlights how it has become unknown outside of the country, and describes the director as the “best kept secret” in Poland. Oleszczyk gives some background to the original true crime story before moving onto the film. It’s an excellent extra.
Also included are three of the director’s early short films, which I won’t profess to fully understand in their totality (there are a lot of themes and abstract elements at play), but what I will say is they are thought-provoking and incredibly watchable.
First is the 12-minute Everyone Gets What They Don’t Need from 1966. It follows a swimming contest, modelling contest, a drowning in a swimming pool, recollections of the horrors of a concentration camp and more in an almost documentary style. It packs so many ideas, themes and settings into its short running time. It’s mesmerising.
Next is 1971’s seven-minute Brothers, which seemingly follows three brothers as they practice gymnastics. It’s brief but beautifully shot, with a wonderful almost kaleidoscope-style opening and some excellent close-ups, and a nightmarish soundtrack.
Finally we get Don’t Cry, a 10-minute short from 1972, which is almost dialogue free and follows a group on an island, them playing music and dancing, having romantic liaisons, and packing onto a train. They’re bidding farewell as they leave for the army. The soundtrack is heightened and quite oppressive but, again, it’s an intriguing watch.
I wasn’t provided with the booklet, so am unable to comment on that.
So whilst it may seem quite a light package, what’s provided is exceptional. Oleszczyk’s appreciation and overview is top drawer, an excellent and richly detailed piece, while the three short films from Królikiewicz are welcome inclusions that shine further light on the director and made me hungry to see more of his works. Highly recommended.
Disc/Package: