The Pianist (2002)

Directed by

Roman Polanski

Written by

Władysław Szpilman, Ronald Harwood

Cast

Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox, Udo Kroschwald, Maureen Lipman, Michał Żebrowski, Ed Stoppard

Genre

drama film, war film, biographical film, musical film, historical film

Country

Germany, United Kingdom, France, Poland

Runtime

2h 29m

Rated

R

Rating

8.4 of 10 from 10,220 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A Jewish pianist struggles to survive in Warsaw during the Holocaust. He hides from the Nazis and witnesses the destruction of his city and community.

sombertensemelancholicgrittyslow-burnunsettlingbleakquietly powerful

What happens

The Pianist is a 2002 epic biographical historical drama film co-produced and directed by Roman Polanski, with a script by Ronald Harwood, and starring Adrien Brody. It is based on the autobiographical book The Pianist (1946), a memoir by the Polish-Jewish pianist, composer and Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman. The film was a co-production by France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland. The Pianist premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival on 24 May 2002, where it won the Palme d'Or, and went into wide release that September; the film received widespread critical acclaim, with critics lauding Polanski's direction, Brody's performance and Harwood's screenplay. At the 75th Academy Awards, the film won for Best Director (Polanski), Best Adapted Screenplay (Harwood), and Best Actor (Brody), and was nominated for four others, including Best Picture. It also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film and BAFTA Award for Best Direction in 2003, and seven French Césars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Brody. Since its release, the film has been widely acclaimed as one of the greatest films of the 21st century. In 2016, it appeared in BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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