Lokis
Lokis, the Manuscript of Professor Wittembach
1970 · Poland · 95 min
- Director
- Janusz Majewski
- Screenplay
- Janusz Majewski
- Music
- Wojciech Kilar
- Cinematography
- Stefan Matyjaszkiewicz
- Editing
- Lidia Zonn
- Production company
- TOR film studio
Awards: Sitges Film Festival Best Director award
Cast
What it is about
In nineteenth-century Lithuania, the pastor and folklorist Wittembach travels the countryside to record local customs. He arrives at a large noble estate at the invitation of the young Count Michał Szemiot, a host nobody can see at the moment. While talking with the household physician, he learns that the Count's mother is kept secluded in a tower, and he begins to notice strange behaviour in his host that feeds the village gossip.
How it was made
Janusz Majewski wrote and directed the film, which is based on Prosper Mérimée's 1869 novella of the same name. The production was handled by TOR film studio, with music by Wojciech Kilar, cinematography by Stefan Matyjaszkiewicz and editing by Lidia Zonn. The cast includes Małgorzata Braunek, Zofia Mrozowska, Hanna Stankówna, Edmund Fetting and Gustaw Lutkiewicz. A Polish-language horror film, it leans on atmosphere and folklore rather than shock, a restraint some critics saw as a departure from the source's more overt horror.
Reception and legacy
Modern critics praised the atmosphere, the characterisation and the photography, though they found the horror elements understated and the pacing slow. In 1971 Majewski shared the best director award at the Sitges International Festival of Science Fiction and Horror Films, and the film also won Polish awards. Home releases on DVD in 2005 and Blu-ray in 2021 helped bring it back to wider attention.
Stills
Trivia
A misspelled name
The title comes from the Lithuanian word lokys, meaning bear, but Mérimée spelled it differently in his 1869 novella.
Restored for DVD
Its first DVD release in 2005 included a short video documenting its digital restoration.
More films by Janusz Majewski
Hotel Pacific
The SubtenantOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.