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Poland, somewhen the late 19th/early 20th century: Young Ewa (Grazyna
Dlugolecka) is so pure a woman that she goes to confession even if she has
nothing to confess ... that is until she meets Lukasz (Jerzy Zelnik), the
new lodger at her parents' (Karolina Lubienska, Zdzislav Morzewski) house.
The two soon have an affair but keep it secret because he's technically
still married and struggles to get a divorce - but when he just can't get
it from the Polish church, he leaves one night and Ewa to forget him ...
which she can't. Then she learns he has been wounded in a duel, hurries to
his bedside and pretty much gets him back into the land of the living.
Ultimately, Lukasz decides to go to Rome to get a divorce from the Vatican
and leaves Ewa behind, promising a quick return ... but the return is
delayed time and again, and in the meantime, Ewa finds out she's pregnant,
has the child and kills it, and falls into the hands of Count Szczerbic
(Olgierd Lukaszewicz), the very man who has wounded Lukasz in that duel
but now promises to bring her to him ... but that goes awry when she
ultimately learns that Lukasz has been divorced and remarried - after he
has learned about Ewa traveling with the Count and made all the false
assumptions. Ewa leaves the Count to fall into the hands of con-men Antoni
(Roman Wilhelmi) and Plaza-Splawski (Marek Walczewski), who blackmail her
into setting a death trap for Count Szczerbic, and it's only when she sees
him killed that she feels real guilt, bolts, and is ultimately reduced to
being a common prostitute. But her story's not over yet, as eventually
Antoni and Plaza-Splawski catch up with her again, and they have some more
sinister uses for her ... The only feature film that cult
director Walerian Borowczyk ever shot in his native Poland, Story of
Sin is a historical epic that gets the genre right - interestingly by
Borowczyk remaining Borowczyk throughout (apart from very restrained
nudity and sex scenes that is): This film is not a mere sequence of events
in opulent decors with big feelings superimposed but has a
phantasmagorical quality all of its own, is rich on symbolism, doesn't shy
away from intimate scenes, and even features some underlying directorial
irony. Plus, while the decor's still fittingly opulent, it's atmospheric
rather than kitschy. And add to all of this a very solid cast, and you've
got yourself a pretty compelling movie.
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