1978 · drama · political

Without Anesthesia

Directed by Andrzej Wajda · 2h 11m · 1978

A famous Polish journalist presents a problem for the powers-that-be when he displays his full political skill and knowledge on a television show featuring questions and answers on a world conference by a panel of journalists. His enemies take away his privileges when he is away. The shock of being "unwanted" parallels a deeper disappointment in his private life: his wife has an affair with a jealous young rival, and after 15 years of marriage and two daughters wants a divorce. She offers no explanations as he tries to untie these problems himself. All the moves he makes are the wrong ones. He takes on drinking heavily with students eager to attend his seminar after discovering the class has been canceled. The journalist, once suave and commanding, is reduced to silence.

Our read: Without Anesthesia (1978) reads as a heavy, steady, grounded drama · political entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, nihilistic in outlook.