Pola Biblis
Konteksty Kultury, Volume 20 Issue 2, 2023, pp. 174 - 188
https://doi.org/10.4467/23531991KK.23.017.18357The article aims to examine the role of sung poetry in the film Autumn Girl (Bo we mnie jest seks, 2021), inspired by the life of Kalina Jędrusik. Katarzyna Klimkiewicz, the director, incorporates the genre of musical, featuring songs which Jędrusik performed throughout her career – mostly written by Jeremi Przybora and Jerzy Wasowski from the renowned Elderly Gentlemen’s Cabaret (Kabaret Starszych Panów). The movie is loosely based on historical facts: it is a rather feminist deconstruction of Jędrusik’s pop-cultural persona and the 1960s in Poland. I analyse how new contexts help to reinterpret classical sung poetry. Songs serve as character exposition, reinforce the feminist reading of the movie and enrich the original lyrics with new meanings. Additionally, to contextualise the issue, I discuss the tradition of Polish musicals and the Elderly Gentlemen’s Cabaret.