Przekładaniec

Przekładaniec is a 1968 short science fiction comedy film directed by Andrzej Wajda based on the screenplay by Stanisław Lem which was an adaptation of Lem's 1955 radio play Czy pan istnieje, Mr. Jones? (Do You Exist, Mr. Jones?). The title was variously translated into English as Layer Cake (literal meaning),[1] Hodge Podge,[2] and Roly Poly.[3]

The central idea is the problems related to organ transplantation, namely, what is the legal identity (and the associated legal rights) of a person whose body includes many transplants and that of a person whose body was used for many transplants?[3]

The film is a rare example when Lem was pleased with an adaptation of his work.[3][4]

Lem's screenplay was first published in 1968 in film magazine Ekran and included into Lem's 1971 short story collection Bezsenność. The original radio play was published in the 2000 collection Przekładaniec of Lem's scenarios.

Plots

Wajda's film is the story of two brothers, Thomas Fox, rally racer, and his brother Thomas, who had terrible car accidents.[3][5] In the original Lem's work they were Harry Jones, a racer after series of car accidents, and his unnamed brother, who suffered a plane crash.

Lem's radio play version

Harry Jones has a series of grave accidents, after each of which Cybernetics Company adds prostheses to his body until virtually all his body, including a half of his brain, becomes artificial and Jones accumulates a huge debt to the company. The company sues him for return of all prostheses, but the lower court rejected the claim because it would be equivalent of killing Jones. The company tricked him into replacing the remaining half-brain and then sued with the demand to acquire Jones as its property in lieu of debt. The court is confronted with the dilemma: if Jones is machine, he/it cannot be sued, otherwise, if he is still a person, he cannot become company's property. Harry called his brother as evidence, but it turns out the latter one after plane crash is in the same predicament...

Wajda's film version

Richard Fox badly hits his brother during a race. The surgeon transplants 48.5% of Toms' body into Richard, and a tragicomedy starts. The life insurance company refuses to pay off Tom's benefits, because he is "incompletely deceased". Tom's wife demands Richard either pay for Tom or recognize himself as Tom and "rejoin the family". Richard's lawyer is not helpful.

At the next rally Richard smashes into his sister-in-law, two more women and a dog...

After the third catastrophic rally the lawyer tries to tell Fox that he did not manage to do anything yet, but it turns out that Fox is no longer Fox, but his survived co-driver full of transplants from Fox's body parts...

Wajda's film

Te film premiered on August 17, 1968 on Polish Television.[6]

Cast

Awards

Other adaptations

Roly Poly is also the title of a 1969 TV play from the BBC Television Thirty-Minute Theatre based on the same work of Lem.[7] It was aired on 15 May 1969, in Series 4, cycle The Victims. The episode recording is missing from the archives.[8]

In 1969 Soviet film director Pyotr Shtein shot a TV play Sandwich along the same lines.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Peter Swirski, The Art and Science of Stanislaw Lem, p. 160
  2. ↑ Przekładaniec at the Internet Movie Database
  3. 1 2 3 4 Janina Falkowska, Andrzej Wajda: History, Politics, and Nostalgia in Polish Cinema, pp.105, 106
  4. ↑ Przekładaniec at Andrzej Wajda's website
  5. ↑ Jerzy Janiuk, "Stanisława Lema związki z medycyną", Medycyna Nowożytna, 2006, Vol 13, issue 1-2, pp. 35-78
  6. 1 2 3 4 Janina Falkowska, p. 311
  7. ↑ Przekładaniec at the Internet Movie Database
  8. ↑ "Missing or incomplete episodes for programme THIRTY MINUTE THEATRE"
  9. ↑ "БУТЕРБРОД (1989)"


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.