Film director and screenwriter. Born in 1925 in Krakow; died in the year 2000 in the city of Łódź.

During the German occupation of Poland, Has studied in Krakow at the Szkoła Handlowa (School of Commerce), and later - until it was disbanded in 1943 - at the Szkoła Przemysłu Artystycznego (School of the Art Industry), which was in fact an underground embodiment of the Academy of Fine Arts. When the war ended, he went on to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. In 1946 he also completed a one-year course in film. That same year he began producing educational and documentary films at the Wytwornia Filmow Dokumentalnych (Documentary Film Studio) in Warsaw, and in the 1950s moved on to the Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych (Educational Film Studio) in Łódź. In 1947 he debuted with a medium length feature titled "Harmonia / Harmony" and in 1957 began making full-length feature films. In 1974 Has became a lecturer in the directing department of the Łódź Film School. From 1987-1989 he was artistic director of the "Rondo" Film Studio and a member of the Komitet Kinematografii (State Cinema Committee). In 1989-1990 he served as dean of the directing department at the State Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź. In 1990 he became the school's provost and remained in this position for six years. He was the managing director and chief professional advisor at the school-affiliated "Indeks" Studio. In 1999 he received the Polska Nagroda Filmowa (Polish Film Award) for Lifetime Achievement, while at the 8. Miedzynarodowy Festiwal Sztuki Autorów Zdjęć Filmowych "Camerimage" / 8th Camerimage International Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Łódź in the year 2000 he received an award for exceptional visual sensitivity. That same year the State Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź bestowed an honorary doctorate on the filmmaker.

Has made himself known as an artist of great individuality, one who avoided political or commercial tones in his art. He was a creator apart, if not to say an alienated artist. He produced his most important films at the height of the famed Polish School, however, his films were stylistically different, from those of this current, and manifested a unique poetic that was all Has's own.

Due to the exceptional nature of his film language, Has is often referred to as a visionary of Polish cinema. Critics note that he created a body of film work that was surprisingly cohesive in its poetic, as if he were recounting the same tale in various ways. In practically every film, Has sought to create his own world. The adventures of his protagonists, their problems and the storylines in which they were embroiled were always of secondary importance compared to the film world he created. This was characterized by an accumulation of strange objects (critics often use the term "rupieciarnia" - "a random collection" to describe it), journeys through the labyrinth of time, a specific narrative rhythm, all of which were a manifestation of his creativity and combined to create a unique visual universe.

"If Wojciech Has had become a painter, he would surely have been a Surrealist. He would have redrawn antique objects with all their real accoutrements and juxtaposed them in unexpected ways," wrote Aleksander Jackiewicz, reminding readers that in his youth the director had also studied painting.

In remembering Has, Henryk Kluba stated that he was a director who "resolved compositions" while shooting and treated each shot as a painted canvas.

"My cinema, my film narratives are visual in nature," said Has of himself. "Their point of departure is always literature. Operating on time. Abbreviations of time. Jumps in time. Sidetracks and various layers. Space is the domain of painting; time is the domain of literature and film. Playing with time activates the imagination of film viewers (...) the fundamental topic of cinema to me is that of the journey."

These fascinations are more than evident in Has's core films like "Rękopis Znaleziony w Saragossie / The Saragossa Manuscript", "Sanotorium pod Klepsydrą / The Hourglass Sanatorium", and in later works like "Osobisty pamiętnik grzesznika / The Memoirs of a Sinner" and "Niezwykła Podróż Baltazara Kobera / The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober".

"In the dream that is a film," said the director, "one often has a singular time loop. Things of the past, issues long gone, are overlaid onto current reality. The subconscious invades reality. Dreams thus allow us to reveal, to show the future."

Has's oeuvre is most commonly associated with Surrealist painting. This is reinforced by the director's dream poetic and his use of accumulations of objects, which are also characteristic of many canvasses by the Surrealists. Film scholar Mirosław Przylipiak less obviously describes Has's style as "Painterly Cubism," justifying this with penetrating analysis. Przylipiak writes as follows of the director's formula of alternative time in "Sanatorium pod Klepsydrą / The Hourglass Sanatorium":

"The singularity of Has's films lies in his juxtaposition of several time dimensions. One could call this a kind of temporal 'Cubism.' Just as Cubism in painting consists of "assembling' canvasses from various spatial aspects of reality, so 'temporal Cubism' consists of introducing several time dimensions into a single scene."

Has also created a number of intimate psychological dramas during his career ("Pętla / The Noose", "Pożgnania / Farewells", "Jak być kochaną/ How To Be Loved", "Szyfry / The Codes"). Critics noted that he seemed to specialize in films about people with unsettled, damaged mentalities who have difficulty settling into life. He was fascinated by outsiders, people evicted from the main current of life, incapable of finding their place in reality.

Two currents remain evident in Has's output: one was his cinema of psychological analysis, the other his films of visionary form in which he most often used the motif of the journey. In spite of this, the director's stylistics rendered these currents similar. In the book "Kino, wehikul magiczny" / "Cinema - A Magical Vehicle," Adam Garbicz wrote that Has's dramas were "always peculiar, always intimate, based on half-tones and on speaking through images." Andrzej Szpulak, on the other hand, writing in "Kino" monthly, offered the following:

"Each work turns out to be a journey into the depths of a once-glimpsed or once-conceived world. Whether this is eighteenth century Spain or German-occupied Poland or even the overtly fantastic thirteenth month, we always find ourselves at the fringes of reality, among protagonists who, while awaiting death, passively submit themselves to a capricious and uncertain chain of events."

Filmography

Documentaries and educational films

• 1947 "Ulica Brzozowa / Birch Street" (director and writer)
  
  
• 1949 "Parowóz P.7-47 / Steam Locomotive P.7-47" (director)
  
  
• 1950 "Moje Miasto / My City" (director)
  
  
• 1950 "Pierwszy plon / First Harvest" (director)
  
  
• 1951 "Mechanizacja robót ziemnych / Mechanization of Earthwork" (director)
  
  
• 1951 "Scentralizowana kontrola przebiegu produkcji / Centralized Control of Production Processes" (director)
  
  
• 1952 "Harcerze na złocie / Scouts at a Meeting" (director)
  
  
• 1952 "Karmik Jankowy / Janek's Feeding Trough" (director)
  
  
• 1952 "Zielarze z Kamiennej Doliny / Herbalists from Stone Valley" (director)
  
  
• 1955 "Nasz zespól / Our Ensemble" (director)

Feature films:

• 1947 "Harmonia / Harmony" (medium length, undistributed)
  
  
• 1957 "Pętla / The Noose" - An adaptation of a short story by Marek Hłasko (screenplay: Marek Hłasko, Wojciech Jerzy Has). A study of alcoholism with an excellent performance by Gustaw Holoubek as Kuba, a man who helplessly tries to battle his addiction before ultimately giving up and committing suicide. The action is limited to a single day, with camera stubbornly accompanying the protagonist in his apartment and throughout his useless wanderings about town. A purposely slow narrative tempo and expressionistic tones in the scenery combine to build a mood of hopelessness. The film depicts the state of mind of its protagonist, who finds himself in a desperate situation. Critics universally underlined the pessimism of the film, though some (notably, Konrad Eberhardt) also noted its creative qualities.
  
  
• 1958 "Pożegnania / Farewells" - An adaptation of a highly lyrical and reflective novel by Stanisław Dygat (screenplay by Stanisław Dygat and Wojciech Jerzy Has). The story begins immediately before World War II and centers on Pawel, a member of a conservative, bourgeois family, and his love for Lidka, a taxi dancer. Social conventions and the lovers' inability to defy them force Paweł and Lidka to part. The times change, war breaks out and ends, Paweł is sent to Auschwitz and Lidka in the meantime marries his cousin. Their love has survived and conventions no longer matter. In the opinion of K. Eberhardt, "Farewells" was above all a reflection upon the passage of time. "We are left with the impression," wrote the critic, "that everything - the sundries from the Villa 'Quo Vadis,' these antiques from a palace exposed to the turmoil of war, amusing dialogues and carefree situations, dramatic gestures and poses that cannot be maintained - are peculiarly transformed, subordinate to the director's reflections on time." Awards: 1959 - Locarno International Film Festival, FIPRESCI Award.
  
  
• 1959 "Wspólny pokój / Roomers" - A subjective adaptation of a well-known autobiographical novel by Zbigniew Uniłowski (screenplay by Wojciech Jerzy Has with dialogues by Stanisław Dygat). The adventures of the tenants of a sublet room in a Warsaw townhouse inhabited mostly by students and novice writers, presented against the social context of the 1930s.
  
  
• 1960 "Rozstanie / Partings" (screenplay by Jadwiga Żylinska based on her own short story) - The central character is an actress (the critically acclaimed Lidia Wysocka in this role) who returns to her hometown after being away for many years. Time, however, has changed the way she looks at familiar places and people. A journey designed to be sentimental ultimately proves a misunderstanding. This film is yet another in Has's oeuvre that is a poetic story about transcendence.
  
  
• 1961 "Złoto / Gold Dreams" - An ensemble cast features in this psychological drama (screenplay by Bohdan Czeszko) that almost seems to be a routine propaganda film. Set on the building site of an energy plant, it centers on a young man who finds it difficult to work in a team and simultaneously harbors a secret. He is running from responsibility for he believes that while driving he hit and killed a pedestrian. In time, it turns out that he in fact it a dog. Has appeared in this film in a bit part, portraying a police officer.
  
  
• 1962 "Jak być kochaną / How To Be Loved" - A drama about unfulfilled love (screenplay by Kazimierz Brandys based on his own short story). The film is for the most part the reminiscence of a radio actress named Felicja, who thinks back to the World War II occupation of Poland by Germany, when she hid a man (Wiktor) sought by the Gestapo in her apartment for a prolonged period. In order to remove suspicion from herself, she began to appear on stage, which rendered her a collaborator in the eyes of her peers from the acting community. Felicja made this sacrifice for Wiktor because she loved him and in spite of her love being unreturned. On the other hand, Wiktor perceives her sacrifice as a burden though Felicja does not notice this. He considers his own position humiliating and ultimately abandons Felicja. At the war's end, he returns to her, but solely in order to commit suicide. After many years, the actress's singular voice wins her the admiration of radio listeners and she regains her professional position. The wartime experience has made her a mature, strong woman. "These two people," wrote K. Eberhardt, "fail in their attempts to rescue each other: she fails to save him from death, he does not succeed in alleviating her solitude. Their efforts prove fruitless. It has been a long time since a Polish film has offered us such a bitter moral." Awards: 1962 - Golden Gate Awards at the San Francisco International Film Festival for the screenplay by Kazimierz Brandys and for Barbara Krafftówna's performance as Felicja; 1963 - Edinburgh International Film Festival - honorable mention; Cork International Film Festival - honorable mention; 1964 - Beirut International Film Festival - FIPRESCI Award; Golden Duck - "Film" monthly award for best film of 1963.
  
  
• 1964 "Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie / The Saragossa Manuscript" (screenplay by Tadeusz Kwiatkowski based on a novel by Jan Potocki) - This adaptation of 18th century Arabesque prose decidedly marks the beginning of the visionary current in Has's oeuvre. This three-hour filmed story about the journeys of Alfons van Worden is surprising for its expansiveness and multiple story lines. The film was variously read as a period comedy, a cloak and dagger story, and a fantastic tale and intellectual game. "The structure is reduced to a single narrative stream. It is a game of assembly taken almost to an absurd level. Does it not mock our habituation to dramatic order in cinema?" Thus went the explanation the director offered of his own intentions to the readers of "Film" monthly. Awards: 1965 - Edinburgh International Film Festival - honorable mention; San Sebastian International Film Festival - Golden Pen (International Journalists' Club Award) and CIDALC Award; 1969 - Sitges International Festival of Fantasy and Horror Films - special medal; 1971 - Spanish Film Critics' Award.
  
  
• 1966 "Szyfry / The Codes" - A psychological drama (screenplay by Andrzej Kijowski based on his own short story) that focuses on Tadeusz, a man who returns to Poland after spending many years abroad. He has trouble finding understanding among relatives who remained in the country, survived the horrors of war and emerged from this experience psychologically damaged. In spite of a concerted effort to do so, he fails in his attempt to discover the circumstances of his son's death during the war. It appears that he was killed by the Germans, though it is also possible that he was executed as a collaborator by the resistance.
  
  
• 1968 "Lalka / The Doll" - Adaptation of one the most prized titles in Polish literature (screenplay by Wojciech Jerzy Has based on the novel by Bolesław Prus). The story of the Warsaw merchant Stanislaw Wokulski, all of whose actions are contingent upon his destructive fascination for an impoverished but conceited aristocrat. Has modified the accents in Wokulski's story. In the film it is not the disappointment in love that renders him a tragic figure (for his love is a substitute emotion), but, as the director stated, his lack of a sense of self-esteem. Has demonstrated incredible attention to detail, making a film that is very painterly, accurately renders the mood of the era and features a noteworthy performance by Mariusz Dmochowski in the lead role. In 1977 Prus's novel also served as the basis for a television mini-series directed by Ryszard Ber. Both versions and the performances they featured were the subject of heated discussion and comparison by viewers. Awards: 1969 - Panama International Film Festival - Grand Prix, cinematography award for Stefan Matyjaszkiewicz, acting awards for Mariusz Dmochowski and Tadeusz Fijewski.
  
  
• 1973 "Sanatorium Pod Klepsydrą / The Hourglass Sanatorium" (screenplay adapted from the prose works of Bruno Schulz by Wojciech Jerzy Has) - A poetic, visually refined "journey through the convolutions of time" as experienced by the protagonist, Józef. In transferring the literary source to film, Has added a series of reflections on the Holocaust. He read the prose of Schulz through the prism of the author's tragic World War II death and through the demise of the world he described. This approach was considered an excessive indulgence by some. Awards: 1973 - Cannes International Film Festival - Jury Prize; 1974 - Trieste International Festival of Fantasy Films - Golden Asteroid; Gdynia, Festival of Polish Feature Films - production design award for Jerzy Skarzyński and Andrzej Plocki.
  
  
• 1982 "Nieciekawa historia / An Uneventful Story" (screenplay by Wojciech Jerzy Has based on a short story by Anton Chekhov) - Anatomy professor Nikolai Stepanovich analyzes his life to find that it generally lacks meaning and consists solely of the monotony of daily activities. Social conventions prevent him from pursuing a relationship with a woman who might provide the meaning he misses in his life. Ultimately she abandons him. This drama about solitude is yet another film in which Has explores a lost life and helplessness.
  
  
• 1984 "Pismak / Write and Fight" (screenplay by Władysław Terlecki based on his own novel) - Set in a prison during World War I, the film centers on a journalist who aspires to be a writer and is imprisoned with a safe-robber and a monk. His cellmates appear to him to be the perfect topic for a novel. Critic Jan Słodowki described the film as "a study in isolation told through the three voices of three people condemned to be with each other; among them, the writer, a maturing artist, his gaze fixed on himself, proves the central figure."
  
  
• 1985 "Osobisty pamiętnik grzesznika... przez niego samego spisany / The Memoirs of a Sinner" (screenplay by Wojciech Jerzy Has based on the novel by James Hogg) - The story of two half brothers and the wickedness the Devil brings into their lives that ultimately results in a dead man being resurrected. This horror film was based on an eighteenth century novel by James Hogg, a Scottish poet. Awards: 1986 - Golden Grapes for cinematography for Grzegorz Kedzierski at the Lubushan Film Summer in Lagow; Bronze Gdansk Lions for music for Jerzy Maksymiuk and for production design for Andrzej Przedworski at the Festival of Polish Feature Films in Gdańsk.
  
  
• 1988 "Niezwykła podróż Baltazara Kobera / The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober" (screenplay by Wojciech Jerzy Has based on the novel by Frederick Tristan) - This story of the Inquisition centers on Balthazar of Budziszyn, who enters a religious seminary but does not complete it. He is discovered to be someone who communicates with the other world, as a "chosen" one he faces a series of strange voyages and tribulations. Balthazar flees from the Inquisition as reality and dreams mix in his life. In concept, structure and mood the film is similar to "The Saragossa Manuscript". Awards: 1988 - Gdynia, Festival of Polish Feature Films - sound design award for Janusz Rosół.
  
  Wojciech Jerzy Has is the focus of a documentary by Adam Kuczynski titled "Ze snu sen / A Dream from a Dream" (1998). Grzegorz Jankowski and Jacek Szczerba also made a film about Has entitled Jabłko. O "Pożegnaniach" Wojciecha Hasa / The Apple - On Wojciech Has's "Farewells" (1999).
  
  Author: Ewa Nawój, July 2003.
  
  
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