ABSTRACT‘The Myth of the Father: Melancholia in the films of Andrzej Wajda from Poland, Michael Haneke from Austria and Aleksandr Sokurov from Russia’ deals with representations offatherhood in contemporary European cinemas. The author notes that in an increasingly globalized cultural economy and an uncertain political and social situation of Europe, symbolic paternal authority seems to be in decline. The abrogation of patriarchy is seen in the melancholic reworking of the myth of fatherhood in the films made by Andrzej Wajda, Michael Haneke and Aleksandr Sokurov. The author links the fears and paranoia related to the father figure representations in the films of the three film-makers to the dissolution of the old patriarchal Europe.