Innocent Sorcerers

Innocent Sorcerers (Polish: Niewinni czarodzieje) is a 1960 Polish psychological romantic drama film directed by Andrzej Wajda, and starring Tadeusz Łomnicki and Krystyna Stypułkowska. Its plot follows a young womanizer meeting another yet finally interesting girl, who all but forces herself into his apartment where they play the game of appearances, unable to confess their love to each other.

The film was appreciated with Diploma of Merit at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1961. In Poland however, though well received by the audience, Innocent Sorcerers was met with criticism from both the then communist authorities and the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, since its release the film has garnered acclaim from film critics, similarly to its worldwide reception to date. American filmmaker Martin Scorsese recognized Innocent Sorcerers as one of the masterpieces of Polish cinema and in 2013 he selected it for screening in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom as part of the Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema festival of Polish films.

A young blond-haired man, having washed himself, listens to his recorded conversations with various girls he was having affairs with, while one of them, Mirka unsuccessfully tries to get to his apartment. As he waits for her to leave, his friend Edmund arrives. He drives him to the sports venue, where we learn that the still unnamed main protagonist is a doctor who qualifies young men for participation in boxing tournaments. He talks with his ex-lover and nurse – Teresa. In the evening, he plays drums in a jazz band led by a bassist Dudek "Polo". The group takes part in a music competition, heavily attended by many young people, including Mirka. After the successful performance (still described by Dudek as "crap" and "fairground music"), he flirts with a journalist. Seeing this, Mirka leaves upset.

Later that evening he meets with Edmund at the club, where, infatuated by the charm of a young girl, Edmund wants to get rid of her partner by driving him out of the city, pretending to be a taxi driver. Doing that, the main protagonist's task would be to take the girl back to the club, where they would wait for Edmund to join them. However, the plan fails when the "kidnapped" girl makes the protagonist go for a night walk around Warsaw with her. He feels sorry for her so he tries to help her catch the train back home. The girl, however, being in no hurry, missed the train on purpose. Feeling confused and guilty, he takes her to his apartment.

Apparently attracted to each other, they write down a "contract" dedicated to their acquaintance. Introducing themselves with made-up names (she says her name is "Pelagia", while he introduces himself as "Bazyli") they make fun of the social norms imposed on people by society as well as the very situation in which they both found themselves. Throughout the night, Bazyli and Pelagia perform all sorts of platonic activities, such as chatting and playing games, finally falling asleep on separate beds.

In the morning, Bazyli's bandmates wake him up to go outside. He comes out of his apartment to greet them, leaving Pelagia alone. When he returns, Bazyli finds out she's no longer there. Desperately looking for his newly met girlfriend, he arrives at the boxing arena, where he hopelessly asks Edmund if he knows anything about her. Edmund, confused by seeing his friend being in love, calls the main protagonist for the first time by his real name – "Andrzej". As he leaves the place, Andrzej is attacked by the boxer who resents the doctor for not allowing him to start in the tournament and has been heavily drinking while waiting for him. Andrzej easily defeats him and slowly returns to his apartment.

As the resigned Andrzej opens the door, he is surprised to see a delighted Pelagia offering him tea and telling him she went for a walk. Humiliated by his feelings, he acts as if nothing serious happened and pretends to fall asleep. At that very moment, hearing on the radio what time is it, the girl sadly announces she has to go. Andrzej doesn't stop her. She leaves the apartment but after a short thought, before even going downstairs, she returns to it.

After the failure of his previous film Lotna (1959), Andrzej Wajda intended to make a film devoted to contemporary topics, which he personally defined years later as "one of the few politically neutral works he had made." The idea to create Innocent Sorcerers was inspired by the rapid spread of jazz culture in Cold War-era Poland, especially motivated by the activities of the jazz bands led by Krzysztof Komeda. The screenplay for the film was written by a 50-year-old at that time writer Jerzy Andrzejewski and future filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski. Both of them were well acquainted with the life of young people fascinated by jazz. Andrzejewski's goal was to show the nascent phenomenon of "social egoism" among young people. He borrowed the title of the film from a line in Adam Mickiewicz's poetic drama Dziady, Part I: