Tadeusz’s (Jan Englert) retirement was supposed to look different. The carefully planned life after life, in which the experienced doctor and hospital chief was supposed to finally experience a well-deserved rest turns into a battle with his own conscience. It all begins with a fatal incident at the eponymous intersection, which Tadeusz, as he points out during his testimony, has been driving through every day for the past 50 years. In Dominika Montean-Pańków’s feature debut, we watch an exemplary example of breaking the routine on many levels. The literal one in the context of a key event – an accident, and the latter in the context of changes in the planned “new” life of the main character. 

Jan Englert in the lead role is flawless, his struggle with himself is painful for the viewer no less than for himself. Although at first through the walls of experience, routine, cynicism, and life expertise he cannot break through the inner doubts, over time Tadeusz begins to doubt the validity of his memory and his beliefs. It doesn’t occur to the character at all to think that he could be to blame for the death of the young motorcyclist. Englert pulls the maximum out of his scripted role, emphasizing every word and gesture that comes out of his side. The case, as it is in films involving the police, is solved very quickly, the guilty party is the one who died – he was driving too fast significantly exceeding the speed limit. Tadeusz’s testimony although not perfect is enough for the services to clear him of guilt. After all, such a meritorious man for society, holding a “premium” position and, what’s more, experienced in driving on this road, could not make a mistake. Unfortunately for Tadeusz, his conscience gradually begins to go beyond the barriers built up over the years and resonates with those closest to him.\ 

The film is encased around the character of Tadeusz, whom the camera never leaves practically for a moment. Englert getting the full attention of the camera dominates every scene not only because of the character of his character, but above all because the actor himself puts his best into his work on this film. Giving an interview to Anna Tatarska of Vogue, he spoke about his reasons for agreeing to take part in this project as follows: (…) I became friends with this character very quickly. I found myself in him, not him in myself. This is a fundamental difference. In The Crossroads I play a deer, the leader of the herd, who understood that it was time to hide in the bushes. Very many things result from this seeming hiding, but occasional roaring that one is still there. Someone has lived an intense life and is forced to come down from the captain’s bridge – it fascinates me. Because it’s not a loss. It’s more the realization that one is standing on two straddling crags. That if I learn to twine, I’ll live longer. A person should have drowned long ago, and he is holding on. 

The Crossroads is slow cinema, throwing the viewer into the moral dilemmas experienced by the protagonist. What’s braver can add to the genre of Cinema of moral anxiety created by the most prominent of Polish directors (Wajda, Zanussi, Holland, Kieslowski). Admittedly, Dominika Montean-Pańków is only making her full debut with film features, but she is doing it in such a way that gives a clear signal that her cinema is and will be important. 

The Crossroads (dir. Dominika Montean-Pańków) is to be seen during 18. Mastercard OFF CAMERA in Polish Feature Film Competition. 

List of screenings: 

• 28/04/2025 | 17:00 | Sala duża | MOS Urodzinowe Kino MASTERCARD 
• 01/05/2025 | 18:30 | Sala mała | MOS Urodzinowe Kino MASTERCARD  

A Q&A session with the filmmakers will take place during the film screening on April 28 at 5:00 PM at the Małopolska Garden of Arts – Mastercard Birthday Cinema.
Please note: the Q&A will be in Polish.

Marcin Telega