A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.
- Won 3 Oscars
- 57 wins & 74 nominations total
Lucy Skeaping
- Street Musician
- (as Lucie Skeaping)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDuring the shooting of the movie, while scouting locations in Krakow, Roman Polanski met a man who had helped Polanski's family survive the war.
- Goofs(at around 2h 20 mins) When Szpilman is playing in the closing scenes, the piano's "Steinway & Sons" logo is the style first used in the 1990s.
- Quotes
Wladyslaw Szpilman: What are you reading?
Henryk Szpilman: "If you prick us, do we not bleed? It you tickle us, we we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"
Wladyslaw Szpilman: [seeing that it is Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice] Very appropriate.
- Crazy creditsAside from the Universal and Focus Features credits, there are no opening credits. All credits, including the title, appear at the end of the film.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Making of 'The Pianist' (2003)
Featured review
terrific movie, if relentlessly gritty and realistic
I remember seeing "Schindler's list" about ten years ago, and I remember how weird I felt for being almost completely unmoved by it. Although it showed the horrors of holocaust quite realistically, somehow it all seemed just a bit too fake and exaggerated. Characters were a bit off (I still can't decide who was more over the top, Schindler or Goeth), fake sentimentalism was all over the place, . While it was a work of art and an important reminder of true events that shouldn't be forgotten, on emotional level it just somehow failed to deliver.
Enter "The Pianist". With no Spielberg around to put his trademark sappy material, we finally have a movie that shows the true horror and tragedy of Jewish people in World War II. The story is told through the eyes of one man - Wladislaw Szpielman, Jewish pianist who works in a radio station in Warsaw during the German occupation of Poland. Together with him we watch his world getting torn apart, witness his family being taken away, his existence being reduced to bare essentials. Brody gives a subtle yet spectacular performance, his best work yet. And never once are we reminded that we are watching a movie. Everything is shown from Szpielman's point of view, and it is all very gritty and realistic. While Spielberg's rendition of German atrocities always had a slightly staged feel to augment their dramatic purpose, here they are so true to life there impact is much greater - you watch and are being reminded in horror that this things actually happened.
While being very hard to watch sometimes, this is a movie that "Schindler's List" was supposed to be. This movie doesn't judge anybody, or tries to explain anything - it shows historical events as a reflection of one man's fate, making a powerful testimony that stays with you long after the beautiful last shot and the end credits are over.
Enter "The Pianist". With no Spielberg around to put his trademark sappy material, we finally have a movie that shows the true horror and tragedy of Jewish people in World War II. The story is told through the eyes of one man - Wladislaw Szpielman, Jewish pianist who works in a radio station in Warsaw during the German occupation of Poland. Together with him we watch his world getting torn apart, witness his family being taken away, his existence being reduced to bare essentials. Brody gives a subtle yet spectacular performance, his best work yet. And never once are we reminded that we are watching a movie. Everything is shown from Szpielman's point of view, and it is all very gritty and realistic. While Spielberg's rendition of German atrocities always had a slightly staged feel to augment their dramatic purpose, here they are so true to life there impact is much greater - you watch and are being reminded in horror that this things actually happened.
While being very hard to watch sometimes, this is a movie that "Schindler's List" was supposed to be. This movie doesn't judge anybody, or tries to explain anything - it shows historical events as a reflection of one man's fate, making a powerful testimony that stays with you long after the beautiful last shot and the end credits are over.
helpful•20767
- baba44713
- Apr 7, 2005
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Nghệ Sĩ Dương Cầm
- Filming locations
- Instalatorów, Ochota, Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland(Umschlagplatz scenes)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $35,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $32,572,577
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $111,261
- Dec 29, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $120,072,577
- Runtime2 hours 30 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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