“I Feel a Bond with Toruń.” An Interview with Ksawery Szlenkier
What does working with Krzysztof Zanussi mean to you?
I think it is a very significant moment in the life of any artist to have the opportunity to meet such a master – a man of such class and culture, with such knowledge and experience. A special measure of Mr. Krzysztof’s greatness is that he does not like being treated that way; he never imposes himself or his authority. He is simply modest. That makes the relationship very human, and when we work on specific scenes, Mr. Krzysztof is attentive to the actor. He guides, but does not impose. He gives a certain freedom. That makes me feel like a co-creator of the film, and it gives me comfort.
I observed a bit of the introduction you and your acting partner received from Mr. Krzysztof on the set by the Vistula River. That calm conversation in the dimmed tent, explaining the role. What is work on set like?
A lot depends on the director’s personality and on the human constellation around him. There is no democracy on a film set, and the example comes from the top. If the director speaks calmly and is patient with the crew and with the actor, who needs time to arrange a sequence of actions and connect them with emotions, then that approach spreads throughout the whole team. Sometimes the actor’s idea and the director’s vision clash. Then patience and mutual respect are needed. Here, we have the feeling that calm and concentration prevail, everyone knows what they are supposed to do, so there is time for a peaceful conversation. Mr. Krzysztof explains in which emotional direction he would like the scene to go, and we have a moment to discuss it – whether this way or that way, perhaps by another method, perhaps changing a word in the script to better emphasize a certain intention.
If the work is based on conversation, and the conversation is based on mutual respect, then everyone feels comfortable. And I hope that will also translate into the final result – that it will become cinema… I’m afraid of that word, but still, that it will become a profound film, not a trivial one. That would be the flowering of Krzysztof Zanussi’s personality and experience. It is worth giving a piece of yourself on set for such a purpose.
How much remains in the actor, as a person, after a film? After the character they played?
After every film, what remains is the memory of meeting particular people. With some people the energy is better, with others worse – that is obvious – but you remember the people. That is also one of the advantages of my profession: each time it is a somewhat different crew, and you meet new people. Often, years later, you run into someone with whom you once shared a film adventure, and many memories return. Here, however, in Całopalenie, my character touches ultimate matters; he collides with certain emotions as if hitting a wall. He cannot control them – they are stronger than he is. I think what will remain with me from this set is the memory of dealing with the character’s extreme emotions. Also, the fact that I tried new things, such as flying in a hot-air balloon. If there is a feeling – and I do have this feeling – that we gave absolutely everything possible in those particular scenes, then it gives professional satisfaction, the sense that we touched something meaningful. Krzysztof Zanussi’s cinema exists on a different level, in a different space than mere entertainment. I have the impression that this is the kind of film that responds to the human need for silence. The need for contemplation and for being alone with one’s thoughts and questions, including those reaching the deepest places within us.
This cinematic adventure will stay with me forever. All the more so because I feel a certain bond with Toruń. Our family history is that, fleeing Germany because of religious persecution and the devastation of the Thirty Years’ War, the Szlenkiers – then still called Schlenkers – found refuge in Toruń. Here they developed their trade, their tanning craft, and only later, in the 19th century, did they move to Warsaw, where the family continued to grow. Yet the beginnings, and the first refuge from the storms of history, were here in Toruń.
I think that spirit of care and hospitality still lives here. Thank you for allowing me to be here with you.
Thank you for the interview!
Promotion Department
Paweł Jankowski
May 28, 2026