The beginning of the 1930s. Teenage Roman Boryczko (Marek Kondrat) starts working in the restaurant of the Pacyfik hotel. A boy from the countryside falls victim to the malice of the waiter Fornalski (Roman Wilhelmi). At the same time, he sees that promotion is guaranteed by licking, selfishness and cunning. Roman climbs up the restaurant hierarchy. At the same time, he tries to avoid moral decline.
“Enchanted Areas” were an adaptation of Henryk Worcell’s book of the same title from 1936. The writer included autobiographical threads in it. He himself worked for several years at the Grand Hotel in Krakow. Unfortunately, in the 1970s the interior of the building no longer resembled the one described in the book. That’s why it was decided to shoot in the Obecni Dum restaurant in Prague.
The film was a Polish-Czechoslovak co-production between the “Tor” Film Group under the direction of Stanisław Różewicz and Dramaturgicka Skupina dr. V. Kalina. Many film people from beyond our southern border were involved in the production. The writer Pavel Hajny participated in the work on the script. The cinematographer was Miroslav Ondříček, later nominated for an Oscar for “Ragtime” and “Amadeus” by Miloš Forman. The cast included Czech actors, including Čestmír Řanda, who played Pancer, the hotel owner. In Poland, the character was dubbed by Mariusz Dmochowski.
Majewski he did not hide the fact that finding a performer for the character of Boryczka was very difficult. “We were rehearsing for this role and boys of different (ages) arrived, but every one of them wasn’t the one. In one case, I was almost, almost decided, when someone told me that there was another boy in Katowice who could be recruited,” the director recalled in an interview for the Polish Film Academy in 2007.
“We were taking these photos in Bristol (…) in some room, quite gloomy. And Marek came. And I can say like a poet: it became bright all around. I just knew there was no point in trying anymore. It was him,” he continued. “He was innocent. He was the embodiment of what Worcell described him in the book.”
“I found the script fascinating, and Janusz guaranteed everything else for me. (…) I started my life there. It was my first film after the Theater School,” Kondrat recalled for the Polish Film Academy. “This film really opened the way for me. I received a lot of awards and distinctions for it. I received the Zbyszek Cybulski Award, which is one of the most important awards in my life.”
According to Kondrat, “The Enchanted Areas” has stood the test of time. “Few titles manage to be presented after many years with our absolute conviction (…) today I am sure of the quality and value of this film. It is of extraordinary value,” the actor continued in 2007.
As Kondrat recalled in one of his interviews for TVP, after the shooting, a gala dinner was organized in Prague, at which, in addition to the film crew, representatives of the ministries of both countries involved in the production were guests. The Czech representative spoke first and thanked us for the fruitful cooperation. “He said about some future and so on and so forth. A representative of the Polish Ministry should have stood up at this, but Romek (Wilhelmi) stood up, tapping the glass in advance. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, when we were finishing this film, director Majewski said this: it will not be a film (here a word generally considered vulgar), neither Polish nor Czech, but American. Cheers!’
“The Enchanted Areas” turned out to be a box office success. By the end of June 1977, it was watched by over 800,000 viewers. The production also won numerous awards. During the 2nd Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdańsk, she was awarded for the role of Wilhelmi and sound. During the Lubusz Film Summer in Łagów, Majewski was awarded the Warsaw Syrenka for the best feature film. In turn, Kondrat received the Golden Camera for his acting debut in 1975 and the award. Zbyszek Cybulski for a young actor (also for “The Shadow Line” and performances in the Television Theater). The film was also recognized with three awards at the Panama International Film Festival – for direction, screenplay and Kondrat’s role.
“The Enchanted Areas” was also warmly received by critics. It was not only the acting roles and production that were praised. Reviewers also pointed out the credible transformation of the young hero. Importantly, Worcell was also satisfied with the adaptation of his book. He even joked that after the premiere of the film, the waiters serving him began to treat him differently – perhaps because of the awareness of how much he suffered because of the progenitor of the character played by Wilhelmi.
In turn, Professor Tadeusz Lubelski, in his book “The History of Polish Cinema. Creators, Films, Contexts”, noted that Boryczka’s relationship with Fornalski, in which a young waiter adopts the toxic habits of his older colleague, heralded the arrival of the Cinema of Moral Disquiet. According to him, Majewski introduced a few years earlier “plots about the young hero gaining awareness of his own situation”, typical of this trend.