Two physicists who studied together in their youth, Jan and Marek, reunite at Jan’s house in the countryside. As the friends catch up Marek can’t understand why Jan is wasting his potential and implores him to move back to Warsaw. Reminiscent of François Truffaut’s Jules et Jim (1962) the threesome (including Jan’s wife) spend time in each other’s company, subtly testing the limits of what’s appropriate. Zanussi made over twenty shorts and TV films at the start of his career and The Structure of Crystal was his first attempt at a feature for which he won the promising Best First Work prize at the Mardel Plata Film Festival.
Screening will be followed by a Q&A with Krzysztof Zanussi. The Zanussi Retrospective is streaming on MUBI until March 24.
