Joseph Marti works as an anonymous bookbinder. His supervisor notices him only when he binds a book in the wrong way, a mistake that gets immediately reprimanded with the book shown to him from up close. This becomes a pivotal point in the life of Joseph. He decides to quit, but at the same it dawns on him that both his presence and absence are completely meaningless. He soon finds himself in a suburban villa built at the beginning of the 20th Century, where he is hired as an assistant of Tobler, a quirky inventor. As time goes by, Joseph takes on more and more duties, becoming title ‘assistant’ - he keeps the books, takes care of letters, and becomes a confidant of the lady of the house. The air gets thicker and thicker, when the economic situation of the family deteriorates and the tensions in the martial relations of the Toblers grow stronger. With violence and frustration now dominating the picture, Joseph decides to quit. What makes the film unique is its striking painterly aesthetics. It constantly balances between dream and reality, while the anachronistic pulsating sound layer only amplifies the overwhelming atmosphere of absurdity and existential hopelessness.
Credits
Directed by: Wilhelm Sasnal, Anka Sasnal
Screenplay: Wilhelm Sasnal
Photography: Wilhelm Sasnal
Editing: Aleksandra Gowin
Sound Engineering: Michał Fojcik
Production Design: Ewelina Gąsior
Costume Design: Kinga Naszkiewicz
Makeup: Anna Zygmuntowicz
Production: Wilhelm Sasnal, Sadie Coles HQ
Cast: Piotr Trojan, Andrzej Konopka, Agnieszka Żulewska
Wilhelm Sasnal, Anka Sasnal
Wilhelm Sasnal – A visual artist, painter, and film director from Poland. He studied architecture at the Cracow University of Technology, and painting at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. In the recent years, he has directed a couple of feature films, many of them in cooperation with Anka Sasnal.
Anka Sasnal – A film director, screenwriter, and editor. She is a teacher of Polish, by education. She is a co-author of feature films and documentaries that frequently deal with social, existential, and historic topics. Among others, she directed such films as ‘Z daleka widok jest piękny / It Looks Pretty from a Distance’ (2011), ‘Huba’ (2013), ‘Słońce, to słońce mnie oślepiło / The Sun, the Sun Blinded Me’ (2016), ‘Nie zgubiliśmy drogi / We Haven’t Lost Our Way’ (2022), and ‘Człowiek od wszystkiego / The Assistant’ (2025). Her films were screened at various film festivals, for example at the International Film Festivals in Rotterdam and Locarno.
