WHAT SUN HAS SEEN

Day for day, the hot summer sun beats down on a nameless Silesian town, but a bleak chill surrounds the struggle of three protagonists to get a grip on their unhappy lives. The fact that CO SŁONKO WIDZIAŁO contains fragments of real-life stories makes Michał Rosa’s film all the more disturbing. Sebastian, a 10-year-old half-orphan, sells garlic and shoelaces on the street. Józef gets by with casual jobs, and constantly serves up new lies to his long-suffering and unbelieving wife. Teenage mother Marta has no money but a beautiful voice; she dreams of being discovered as a singer. All three devise surprisingly resourceful schemes to solve what appears to be their main problem, namely the shortage of money, but their efforts remain clumsy, at best. As we witness the fading of their hopes, we begin to realize that money is not at the root of their neediness. The figures initially take scant notice of each other during chance encounters in their daily battle with poverty. As their paths cross ever-more frequently, however, the true extent of the raw grief each figure hides gradually comes to light, and their growing despair widens the discrepancy between their tough exteriors and mental vulnerability. When everything comes crashing down around them – literally – it seems like a faint chance to leave off the lying and self-deception, and to (re-)discover some common ground among the debris of their lives. German premiere.