No End (film)

No End (Bez końca) is a 1985 film directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and starring Grażyna Szapołowska, Maria Pakulnis, and Aleksander Bardini. The film is about the state of martial law in Poland after the banning of the trade union Solidarity in 1981. Kieślowski worked with several regular collaborators for the first time on No End.

Plot
The ghost of Antek Zyro, an attorney, breaks the fourth wall, explaining he suffered a heart attack while driving and was killed in a car accident. He leaves behind his wife, Urszula (nicknamed "Ula"), and his son Jacek. A month later, Ula receives a phone call from Joanna Stach, the wife of her husband's last client, Darek Stach. She requests the legal documents relating to her husband's case, but Ula is unable to provide them. Joanna reminds Ula of Mieczyslaw Labrador, an older lawyer Antek had clerked for.

Later that afternoon, Ula rummages through her husband's files, and discovers nude photographs of herself with her face scissored out. She meets with Tomek, a friend of Antek's who explain the photographs. Inside Anatek's files, they find a small handwritten note, in which Darek requested Antek's legal representation after he is arrested for organizing for the Solidarity movement. Labrador meets with Darek in his prison cell, in which they discuss the reasons behind his imprisonment. Labrador agrees to take his case, hoping to present Darek as an activist who believes the Polish government needed political reform. However, Darek states he will start a hunger strike. At a Christmas party, Ula meets with Marta Duraj, who had known Antek fifteen years earlier when they were law students.

At a local bar, Ula meets with a young English man. They share drinks and she joins him to his apartment, where they have sex. Back at Joanna's apartment, both women learn about a new trade union, with Derek's fellow dissidents involved. Struggling to cope with Antek's death, Ula meets with a psychiatrist, who attempts to place her in a trance so she will forget her husband. However, during the session, Ula sees the ghost of her husband. Back at her apartment, Ula comforts Jacek who had a nightmare about his parents.

Labrador revisits with Darek in his prison cell, in which he arranges to have members of the union testify in his defense. From Labrador's perspective, the union can defend Darek, stating that he is no threat to the Polish government, and Darek will have his prison sentence reduced. However, Darek vows to remain imprisoned so he can continue his hunger strike. Labrador sends his apprentice lawyer to advise Darek of his legal options, and convinces Darek to end his hunger strike. Meanwhile, Ula revisits her psychiatrist and attends a candlelight burning at her husband's gravesite. She drops Jacek off at her mother-in-law's residence.

At a trial hearing, the judge suspends Darek's jail sentence. After the court adjourns, Labrador announces his retirement. Ula returns to her apartment, and places a tape over her mouth. She blacks out, and is reunited with her husband.

Cast

 * Grażyna Szapołowska as Urszula Zyro
 * Maria Pakulnis as Joanna Stach
 * Aleksander Bardini as Lawyer Mieczyslaw Labrador
 * Artur Barciś as Darek Stach
 * Danny Webb as The Englishman
 * Jerzy Radziwilowicz as Antek Zyro
 * Michal Bajor as Miecio (aplikant)
 * Marek Kondrat as Tomek, Antek's friend
 * Tadeusz Bradecki as Hipnotyzator
 * Krzysztof Krzeminski as Jacek Zyro
 * Marzena Trybała as Marta Duraj
 * Adam Ferency as Rumcajs (nom de guerre after Rumcajs)
 * Elzbieta Kilarska as Antoni's Mother
 * Jerzy Kamas as Judge Biedron
 * Hanna Dunowska as Justyna
 * Jan Tesarz as Joanna's Father
 * Andrzej Szalawski as Lawyer

Production
The film was Kieślowski's first writing collaboration with the screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, who co-wrote the screenplays for all of Kieślowski's subsequent films, and the earliest of his films with music by Zbigniew Preisner, who provided the musical score for most of Kieślowski's subsequent films. As in his later scores, Preisner's music is explicitly referenced by the characters in the film itself, in this case with the main character's son playing the theme on a piano at home.

Reception
No End received positive critical reviews. In his review in The A.V. Club, Noel Murray felt that the film deserved to be "counted among his acknowledged classics." Murray gave it an A+ rating.

In an interview, Kieślowski later said of the film:

In his review in Cinemania, Dan Jardine wrote, "No End is Kieslowski’s dry run for Blue, both are wrenching and beautifully- [sic]lensed studies of one woman’s struggle to deal with the death of loved ones in a larger politically- [sic]charged context. Where they differ: While similarly bleak and sorrowful, Blue finds a tortured peace, a painful hope, where No End is a giant sinkhole of despair."

In his review in the Chicago Reader, Jonathan Rosenbaum called the film "terse, suggestive, and pungent, with juicy performances by Bardini and Szapolowska."

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 90% based on 10 reviews.