Useful quotations
Szpilman
Halina
Mother
Szpilman
I'm not going anywhere.
Good. Then nor am I.
Don't be ridiculous. We've got to keep together.
If I'm going to die, I prefer to die in my own home.
BBC Radio
Father
Poland is no longer alone.
Didn't I tell you? All will be well.
Szpilman
Dorota
You know what people are like. They want to be better Nazis than Hitler.
It's so humiliating for someone like you.
Szpilman
Dorota
Szpilman
Dorota
Szpilman
It's an official decree - no Jews allowed in the parks.
What, are you joking?
No, I'm not. I would suggest we sit down on a bench, but that's also an official decree. No Jews
allowed on benches.
This is absurd.
So, we should just stand here and talk. I don't think we're not allowed to do that.
Dorota
Szpilman
Dorota
This is disgraceful.
Don't worry. It won't last long.
That's what I said. It's too absurd.
Szpilman
Henryk
[of the ghetto] It’s too small! There's 400,000 of us in Warsaw
No, 360,000. So it will be easy.
Henryk
There are people here making millions. They bribe the guards; the guards turn a blind eye. They are
bringing in cartloads – food, tobacco, liquor, French cosmetics – and the poor are dying all around us
and they don't give a damn.
Jehuda
This is the greatest pianist in Poland, maybe the whole world.
Henryk
Playing the piano for all the parasites in the ghetto... They don't give a damn about people's
suffering. They don't even notice what's going on around them.
Father
I blame the Americans... American Jews – and there are lots of them. What have they done for us?
What do they think they are doing? People here are dying – haven't got a bite to eat. Jewish
bankers over there should be persuading America to declare war on Germany.
Dr Ehrlich
Dr Ehrlich
I’m telling you, it’s a disgrace. We’re letting them take us to our deaths like sheep to the slaughter.
Why don’t we attack them? There are half a million of us. We could break out of the ghetto. At
least we could die honourably, not as a stain on the face of history.
Why are you so sure they are sending us to our death?
I’m not sure. You know why I’m not sure? Because they didn’t tell me. I’m telling you – they are
going to wipe us all out.
The Germans will never squander a huge labour force like this. They are sending us to a labour camp;
it's obvious.
Oh sure. Look at that cripple there. Look at the old people, the children. They're going to work?
Szpilman
[taking off his watch] Here, sell this. Food is more important than time.
Szpilman
Hosenfeld
I don't know how to thank you.
Thank God, not me. He wants us to survive. Well, that's what we have to believe.
Szpilman
Soldier
Szpilman
Please, don't shoot! I'm Polish!
You're Polish? Then why the coat?
I'm cold.
Mr Grun
Dr Ehrlich
Mr Grun
18
Scene List

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
many of these ‘scenes’ are sequences
D1 Invasion
Warsaw 1939: b&w street scenes
Szpilman is playing Chopin on Polish radio when the first German bombs fall.
He meets Dorota
The family decides to stay in Warsaw; Britain declares war on Germany.
German soldiers march into Warsaw
The family argues over where to hide their money
Szp phones Jurek and hears that the radio station is not allowed to broadcast.
Szp meets Dorota, chats her up.
Father reads the paper: from October 31, Jews must wear an armband with a blue Star of David.
Father is slapped by a Nazi officer for not bowing.
They sell the piano.
D2 The Ghetto
31 October, 1940: The Jews walk to the new ghetto.
In their new home, they watch the wall being built.
Szpilman and Henryk carry his books home.
Itzak Heller offers them jobs in the Jewish police. They both refuse.
Szpilman is playing piano in a bar.
Szpilman throws stones against a window
He visits a printer Jehuda Zyskind and offers to help the Resistance.
D3 Arrests and Deaths
Szpilman tries to help a child smuggler.
Henryk tells a "funny" story and criticises Szp's 'work'. The Nazis raid the building opposite.
Henryk has been arrested.
Szp asks Heller for help, and Henryk is released.
Henryk tells them about the ‘labour camps’ and that the small ghetto is to be closed.
Majorek and Jehuda offer to get a work permit for Father.
A work permit is provided for Father
15 March, 1942: the residents of the small ghetto are evacuated to the large ghetto
Family members sort and store confiscated rugs, suitcases, clothes etc under German supervision.
A German officer orders them outside.
Henryk and Halina are selected; the rest are ordered to dress and report back.
The family packs in silence.
D4 The Umschlagsplatz
16 August, 1942: They are herded into the Umschlagsplatz; the six of them share a caramel.
A train arrives; Heller saves Szpilman from the train; the Jews are forcibly boarded.
Szpilman walks through a street littered with the dead.
Jehuda and his whole family have been shot. The office has been trashed.
The empty square and its abandoned suitcases.
The café has been trashed also; he joins Benek in hiding.
D5 Forced Labour
Szp is part of a work detail going under guard out of the ghetto. He sees Janina.
Majorek tells Szpilman about Treblinka; Szpilman helps to smuggle guns.
They throw guns over the wall.
Szp asks Majorek if he can help him get out of the ghetto.
A German nearly finds the guns.
19
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
Majorek tells Szpilman to be ready to leave soon. A drunken German whips them, makes them
sing.
Szpilman removes his star and leaves with the Polish workers.
D6 Outside the Ghetto
He follows Janina to her apartment; he is taken to where Gebczynski hides him.
Gebczynski takes him by tram across to an empty flat near the ghetto wall.
19 April, 1943: he watches the Jewish Uprising from his window.
16 May, 1943: the survivors surrender and are machine-gunned
Janina brings food
Gebczynski is on the run from the Gestapo; Janina and Andrej have been arrested. Szpilman
decides to stay.
D7 On the Run Again
A neighbour – a blonde Nazi-type – demands his ID and he flees into the snowy streets.
He goes to the emergency address – and it is Dorota’s.
D8 In the Lions’ Den
Szpilman is taken to a new apartment opposite a hospital and the Security Police.
Szalas arrives – with food – after a two-week gap. Dorota visits – Szp is delirious, sick.
D9 The Uprising
1 August 1944: he watches the Uprising from his window.
Residents are warned to leave but he is locked in. A hole is blown through the wall; he escapes
He creeps into the hospital where he sleeps, finds water, bread, some barley.
The Germans use a flame-thrower to burn the buildings; he escapes into a burned out wasteland.
D10 A Good German
He searches for food and finds a reasonably intact house - and a can of gherkins.
He is discovered by a German officer and plays the piano for him.
Szp takes him up and shows him the attic; Hosenfeld leaves.
D11 The Enemy Moves in
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
Germans move in downstairs. Hosenfeld brings him food.
The Germans leave; Hosenfeld gives Szpilman food and his coat; asks for Szpilman’s name.
Szpilman is shot at by Polish soldiers because of his German coat.
D12 Aftermath
Prisoners liberated from a concentration camp abuse Germans in a temporary POW camp.
Szpilman plays piano on Polish radio.
The POW camp has gone; Szpilman sits in the sunshine.
Szpilman plays in concert, with an orchestra.
Wladyslaw Szpilman continued to live in Warsaw until his death on July 6, 2000. He was
88 years old.
The name of the German officer was Captain Wilm Hosenfeld. All that is known is that he
died in a Soviet Prisoner of War camp in 1952.
20
The Complex Make-up of a Movie

plot

setting

director: style, tone, lighting
Director of Photography
(Cinematographer)
 production designer
Roman Polanski

 art director: colours, motifs

art designer/set decorator
screenplay
Sebastien T Krawinkel,
Nenad Pecur
Gabriele Wolff
Ronald Harwood
 characters





Pawel Edelman
Allan Starski
actors

casting
humour

costumes
Celestia Fox,
Heta Mantscheff
Anna B. Sheppard
allusions

makeup
Waldemar Pokromski

sound
Jean-Marie Blondel

sound editing



music
music editing
visual effects
Gérard Hardy, Katia Boutin,
Paul Conway,
Wojciech Kilar
Suzana Peric
Jan Gwiasda

editing: pace, style,
juxtaposition; montage
motifs
clichés
wit
 themes

structure
Hervé de Luze
Note – the aspects in column 2 are not intended to be a match with aspects in column 4.
Pre-production: screenplay, storyboarding; location scouting; set design & decoration; costume design, casting.
Production:
filming on set or location – actors, costumes, makeup; cinematography etc
Post-production: editing, adding SFX, music, sound effects, sound effects editing, etc
Selected Awards
Academy Awards, USA
Won: Best Director, Actor, Adapted Screenplay
Nominated: Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Best Picture
BAFTA Awards, UK
Won: Best Film, Director
Nominated: Music, Cinematography, Actor, Screenplay (Adapted), Sound
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: Best Actor, Director, Picture
Cannes Film Festival: Golden Palm (Best Picture)
César Awards, France
Won: Best Film, Director, Actor, Cinematography, Music, Production Design, Sound
Nominated: Best Costume Design, Editing, Writing
David di Donatello Awards, Italy: Best Foreign Film
European Film Awards: Best Cinematographer; Nominated: Best Director, Film
Golden Globes, USA: Nominated: Best Drama, Actor (Drama)
Goya Awards, Spain: Best European Film - Roman Polanski (UK/Poland)
National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA: Best Actor, Director, Screenplay, Film
Polish Film Awards
Best Film, Director, Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Film Score, Production Design, Sound
Nominated: Best Screenplay, Actor, Actress (Emilia Fox), Best Supporting Actor (Ed Stoppard), Supporting
Actress (Maureen Lipman)
San Francisco Film Critics Circle: Best Picture
[A full list can be accessed at www.IMDb.com]
21
Glossary of Film Terms
ambient sound
animation
art director
aural bridge
auteur
‘b’ movie
backlighting
back (rear) projection
body language
camera angle
cinematographer
close-up (C.U.)
continuity
crane shot
credits
cross-cutting
cut
cut-away
deep focus
dissolve
dolly
dub
editing
establishing shot
exposition
extra
fade-in
film noir
fish eye lens
flashback
focus
footage
frame
freeze frame
gaffer
genre
grain
hand held camera
high key lighting
inpoint
insert
jump cut
leader
location
long lens
long shot /L.S.
master shot
matte
medium (mid) shot
mise en scène
background sound (not music): footsteps, bushes rustling – FOLEY effects
The process of assembling drawings to be photographed one frame at a time, to create an illusion of
movement. Cartoons are best-known form of animation.
The designer of sets and costumes.
hearing the sound of the next shot before cutting to it - signals a transition
A director (or occasionally some other type of film-maker) with a recognisable style and view of life.
A low budget movie of the kind used to fill out a double feature. (Compare the phrase ‘B side’ of a record.)
Light from behind a person or object, sometimes creating a halo effect.
Adding a filmed background to live action, so it looks as though the action is taking place in that location.
The way our feelings are expressed through our body.
The angle at which the camera is pointed at a person or object (high, low, neutral = eye-level). A camera
tilted to one side so the horizon is on a slant is canted or tilted (not to be confused with a ‘tilt shot’.]
A movie cameraman, usually the ‘director of photography’.
A camera shot that seems to bring us close to the person or object being filmed; a shot of a person’s face
only is a ‘close-up’. + ‘Extreme close-up’ (E.C.U.) or ‘big close-up’ (B.C.U.).
The script supervisor keeps a record of ‘takes’ and makes sure that the details are consistent from one shot
to another (e.g. a character must wear exactly the same clothes even if a scene is shot over several days).
A shot taken from a crane (a kind of high angle shot).
The list of cast, crew, and other people involved in making a film. ‘Head credits’ at beginning, & ‘tail credits’.
The alternating of shots from two different sequences, often in different locales, suggesting they are taking
place at the same time.
The place where one shot has been spliced to another.
A shot which briefly turns our attention away from the main action to someone or something on the sidelines.
Every object is in focus to a great depth. [cf. shallow focus]
One image fades in while another fades out, so that they are superimposed for a few moments.
Any platform with wheels that allows the camera to be moved: ‘dolly shot’, ‘tracking’ or ‘trucking’ shot.
To record dialogue after a film has been shot, usually replacing one language with another.
The process of selecting, arranging and trimming the various shots to make up a film.
Usually a long-shot, it gives an overview of a scene so the audience is not confused about what is
happening and where.
The basic information that must be supplied to an audience at the beginning of a story, so they can follow
the story and feel involved with it.
Someone acting a minor part, in a crowd scene for example.
An image appears out of blackness, gradually brightening to full strength. Fade-out = image fades to black
A French term (‘black cinema’) for a genre of thrillers in which the universe is despairing and fatalistic.
A very wide lens that distorts the image.
A return to a scene in the past. (A flash forward = a premonition of the future.)
The sharpness of an image. To focus a camera is to adjust the lens so that it gives a sharper image.
The amount of film used, or to be used (measured in feet or metres).
A term used to refer to: 1. any single image of a film (there are 24 frames per second)
2. the rectangular shape of the image (like the ‘frame’ of a painting).
A single frame repeated many times so it looks like a still photograph.
The chief electrician in charge of the lights. Their assistant is the ‘best boy’.
A type of film (e.g. the western, sci-fi.).
The texture of the film emulsion. A film image with coarse texture is said to be ‘grainy’.
The camera is sometimes held in the hand, even though a tripod gives smoother results. see Steadicam.
Bright lighting, usually provided by one source of light (the ‘key light’).
The detail or image at the beginning of a scene, selected for its impact, or because it provides a smooth
transition from the previous scene to the new scene. Compare OUTPOINT.
A detail shot (for example a close-up of a letter).
An abrupt transition between shots, usually deliberate, which is disorienting in terms of time and space; a
startling transition that requires a leap of the imagination. Peter Jackson uses the term ‘crash cut’ for really
shocking jumps.
A square piece of film added to the ‘head’ (beginning) or ‘tail’ (end) of a film.
A place, other than a studio, where a film is shot.
A lens with a long focal effect that has a telescopic effect.
A shot from a distance - it shows a person from head to foot, and perhaps more than this.
A long take of an entire scene, into which other shots e.g. reaction shots, are cut.
A process of combining several images during the printing process (e.g. to add a background).
[M.S.] A shot between a close-up and a long shot in the sense of closeness it creates.
Getting a scene together, the choices made about the details of the imaged; what items will be in it, and how
those items are to be presented.
22
montage
morphing
outpoint
out of shot [O.S.]
out-take
over-shoulder shot
pan
parallel montage
point-of-view shot
pull focus
reaction shot
reverse angle:
rough cut
rushes (or dailies)
screenplay
set-up
shallow focus
shooting/ filming
shot
side lighting
Skycam
soft focus
sound mix
sound effects
special effects (SFX)
split screen
Steadicam
still
storyboard
sub-text
synchronisation
subjective shot
tail
take
telephoto lens
texture
threnody
tighter shot
tilt shot
tracking shot
two-shot
video
visuals
voice over (VO)
wide-angle lens
wipe
zoom
A fast-moving sequence in which many shots are combined - to create a mood, or to sum up a long process,
to suggest connections. A series of short clips which add up to more than the sum of the whole.
Compresses a passage of time into brief symbolic or typical images.
Transforming from one image into another
The final detail or image in a particular scene. It may sum up what has happened, add a touch of irony, or
point towards the following scene. Compare ‘INPOINT’.
A character speaks while the camera looks elsewhere. Not the same as voice over.
A take not used in the final version of a film.
A camera position often used in dialogue scenes.
The movement of the camera when it swivels from left to right or right to left
Two scenes that the editor has alternated. Also known as ‘cross-cutting’.
[POV shot] A shot in which the camera is associated with the eyes of a character (‘this is what s/he sees’).
To shift focus from one part of a scene to another (also known as ‘follow focus’ or ‘rack focus’)
A shot that shows a person’s reaction to what happened in the previous shot. (It is known as a ‘noddy’ if the
person is merely nodding, like a television interviewer!)
A shot from the opposite side. When two people are talking, there is often a ‘shot and reverse shot’
alternation.
The first edited version of the film, like a rough copy. It is revised to become the final cut.
‘Takes’ rushed back from the laboratory so the film-makers can check that they got what they wanted.
A film or television script.
The position of the camera and lighting, selected for a particular shot.
Objects in foreground will be sharp; those in background will be blurred or softened. Opposite = deep focus.
The ‘shoot’ is the period of time spent filming.
A film is made up of many different shots. During the shooting of a film, a shot ends when the camera is
turned off. Each shot involves a different camera set-up. During and after the editing of the film a shot ends
where the editor has cut it off. See ‘TAKE’.
light coming from one side – can create sense of volume, bring out surface tensions, fill in unlit areas.
A lightweight camera is suspended via wires and pulleys and controlled from a computer.
Opposite of sharp focus, sometimes produced by filters or Vaseline to add a romantic effect.
The combination of different elements (dialogue, music, sound effects) to make up the sound track
Sounds other than words.
Creating illusions by the use of trick photography, miniature models and various types of equipment. A
bomb can explode; a flying saucer can appear etc, thanks to SFX.
Two or more separate images within the same frame.
The camera is attached to a vest on the camera operator who can then move it without jerkiness.
A single photograph, the enlargement of one frame.
A script presented as a serious of drawings and captions.
A person’s private thoughts and feelings which may be different from those expressed publicly.
Matching up sounds with visuals. When words match the movements of the actor’s lips, the film is ‘in sync’.
A point of view shot, sometimes distorted to emphasise the character’s state of mind.
The end of a film.
One attempt at a shot. To get the effect wanted, the director may ask for more than one version (or ‘take’).
Same as ‘shot’ but it refers more narrowly to the period when the film is being made.
A long lens with a telescopic effect.
A term used to refer to: (1) the actual physical look of a film image, those qualities that allow us to
distinguish it from a video, image or an oil painting, or other kind of image. (2) richness of detail – clouds,
faces, wind tugging at clothes, cars passing in the background, etc. To respond to texture is to notice not
just the main meaning or the main objects in a film scene, but also to notice the many details, colours and
surfaces.
an unnerving sound, signalling a change of mood (threnody = song of lament)
A closer shot, leaving less space around the people or objects on which the camera is concentrating.
The stationery camera starts at the top of an object/figure and scans down to the bottom (tilt down) or at the
bottom and scans to the top (tilt up). Only the lens moves; when the whole camera is lifted = crane shot.
the camera moves on a ‘dolly’, enabling it to follow people who are moving along.
A shot in which two people are shown (cameramen also speak of ‘one-shot’ and ‘three-shot’).
Television filming. The images are recorded not on film stock, but on videotape.
The images of a film.
Commentary by an unseen narrator.
A lens with a broad angle of view, increasing the sense of depth and distance.
An optical effect in which one image appears to push the previous image off the screen.
A lens that can be adjusted from ‘wide-angle’ to ‘telephoto’. Such a lens can ‘zoom in’ or ‘zoom out’ (seem
to move closer or further away from an object).
23