Chinese Version

Szamanka (Switzerland / France / Poland)

The Shaman

Rough Beautiful

Director: Andrzej Zulawski

Cast: Boguslaw Linda   Iwona Petry

Footage: 112min

Year: 1996 

At the Warsaw railway station, a young, free-spirited student nicknamed "The Italian" accosts Michal, a self-assured anthropology professor, about renting his brother's apartment. While visiting the apartment, they quickly get engaged into brutal sex. The same day, in the outskirts of the city, Michal and his students discover the well-preserved body of an ancient shaman. Michal's growing obsession with the mystery of the shaman's death coupled with his ongoing intense affair with "The Italian" leads to violent and surprising repercussions.

Along with very explicit erotic scenes, the film contains Zulawski's usual deliberate assaults on conventional morality, Catholicism, and Polish censorship.

References:

Szamanka