“Wanted, Wanted” is a cult comedy by Stanisław Bareja, shot according to a script written by the director together with Jacek Federowicz. 50 years have passed since the film’s premiere on April 22 this year. Although the production talks about realities forgotten by many, it entertains subsequent generations.
The satire tells the story of Stanisław Maria Rochowicz (Wojciech Pokora), a museum employee and art historian who was accused of stealing a painting. He faces five years in prison, so he decides to go into hiding. She plans to paint a copy of the work and drop it off, and until then live in female disguise. Rochowicz’s alter ego is a housewife, Marysia, who works in several different homes. She quickly realizes that the housemaid earns more than a master’s degree in art history. Stanisław Bareja, when creating the story, was apparently inspired by real events.
Today, fans of Bareja’s film cannot imagine anyone else playing the role of Marysia, but Wojciech Pokora did not want to accept the director’s proposal. The creator insisted, and his wife convinced the actor to take this professional step. Like Gazeta Wyborcza, Bareja saw Jacek Federowicz in the role, followed by Janusz Gajos. However, after test photos, he decided that both actors looked too good in women’s clothes. The director insisted that Pokora had to get the role.
“I had to change my phone number several times because pranksters called me.”
The actor, persuaded by his wife, recalled years later that Marysia’s popularity also had its disadvantages. “I had to change my phone number several times because pranksters called me so often and asked: ‘Have I found Marysia?’. Similarly, children were shouting after me in the yard,” Pokora said in the program “Portrait with a Painted Word” quoted by polskieradio.pl.
Years after the film’s premiere, the actor recalled that his role was remembered by Poles for a long time. “But it also made me unable to free myself from the label of Marysia. Many times, people shouted after me in the street: ‘You, Marysia!’ Or they shouted on the beach: ‘Marysia, your soup is boiling!’. It was a label I couldn’t bear. get rid of it,” the actor explained his dislike for the character.
“Wanted, Wanted” received an award at The First Queens International Film Festival in 1974. The jury appreciated the LGBT theme in the film and the allusions to the relationship between the two women. This was the only distinction Bareja received during his lifetime.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
