Wajda meets Lem: Przekładaniec/Roly Poly (1968) as an example of early Polish science-fiction cinema

Abstract

ABSTRACTPrzekładaniec/Roly Poly (1968), based on a Stanisław Lem script, is a frequently overlooked oddity in Andrzej Wajda's body of work. The film occupies a curious place amongst the director's films of the 1960s, a period marked by his experimentation with new genres and modes. Furthermore, as part of a Polish television series of science-fiction shorts, Roly Poly is an interesting example of an exclusively Polish film made when the genre was dominated by international co-productions. This paper aims to trace the genesis of Roly Poly, particularly its script and Wajda's relationship to Lem. It also briefly traces 1960s and 1970s Polish science-fiction cinema and the implications of Wajda's choice of the genre. I propose a reading of Roly Poly as the reflection of Wajda's own artistic struggle. The protagonist's gradual identity loss through the gradual substitution of his defining characteristics in some ways mirrors the filmmaker's own creative and personal crisis at that time. Roly Poly is here interpreted as a palate cleanser, or an artistic break from Wajda's signature themes and stylistics preceding the opening of a successful second act in the director's career.