The Contract

Overview

Bearing traces of the old Anton Chekhov play The Wedding, The Contract is set during an "arranged" ceremony. The bride and groom barely know each other, but this matters not at all to their tradition-bound families. At the last minute, the bride balks. Only slightly nonplused, the groom's father, a status-seeking doctor, decides to go ahead with the expensive reception anyway. Polish director Krzysz Zanussi uses this scenario to stick it to capitalist corruption, and to society's destruction of the individual spirit. Leslie Caron, the one recognizable member of the cast, is outstanding as a wealthy, over-the-hill ballerina who happens to be a kleptomaniac.

Cast

Maja Komorowska

Dorota

Tadeusz Łomnicki

Adam Ostoja-Okędzki

Magdalena Jarosz

Lilka Bartoszuk

Krzysztof Kolberger

Piotr Ostoja-Okędzki

Nina Andrycz

Olga Aleksandrowa

Zofia Mrozowska

Maria

Beata Tyszkiewicz

Nina

Janusz Gajos

Bolesław Bartoszuk

Edward Linde-Lubaszenko

Journalist Zygmunt

Ignacy Machowski

Adam's Friend

Christine Paul-Podlasky

Patrycja

Peter Bonke

Sven