His “What starts with ‘ż’ and silently rules Poland?” may sound dangerous, but it turns out to be disarmingly perverse, because the answer – contrary to Grzegorz Braun’s guesses – is “rye”. However, John Paul’s statement is vital: “I was lucky to be born a nobleman in Poland, the most powerful country in the world. We have reached the highest stage of development as humanity, nothing more will happen.” The statement “God, honor, homeland – the three most common causes of death of Polish noblemen”, which also comes from the mouth of one of the noblemen just before the duel between two others, seems to be very accurate. There are many, many more such texts.
‘1670’, quotes from the series Robert Pałka/Netflix, promotional materials
“1670” is a joke. The best quotes are hard to choose
The words of Bogdan, an impoverished Sarmatian, Zofia’s brother and brother-in-law of the main character, are very accurate. Describing his military career, he says: “I took part in all the most important defeats of our army in the last decade. Seven times I begged my enemies for mercy. Six times I played dead. About such as I write songs. Because he lost all his fortune, willingly or unwillingly, he lives in John Paul’s forge, which he shares with a Lithuanian blacksmith’s assistant, Maciej, so even though he says “Poland for Poles”, he still has to add the unpleasant “And Lithuanians”. This character is very gracefully played by Dobromir Dymecki, who really beautifully, as a landless Sarmatian, says with exceptional passion, “I love eating edible things.” Upon learning that there was a plague in London four years earlier, Bogdan even more beautifully asks the basic question that comes to our lips every time we read about foreign accidents – “Were there Poles among the victims?”
When one of the peasants asks John Paul if they will receive any remuneration for their work, he kindly advises her: “Go and confess this idea.” He explains to his son, who is not interested in urging peasants to work with the motivational slogan “Hop, hop, hop”, that his life was not easy either, because he had to inherit everything himself. Opposed to increasing taxes, he emphasizes: “A man achieves something through the hard work of his own peasants, then take it away from him! This is the mentality.” Before the regional council, he and his son practice “the best Polish traditional rhetorical moves.” And what? E.g. “I didn’t interrupt you!” Already at the assembly, he is the only one shouting “liberum veto”, and the rest of the noble brothers are clearly dissatisfied with the results of the vote, so he ends the discussion with the words “One person was against, end of story. We have a democracy”. One of his peasants is also clever, he plows the field with his father-in-law during serfdom and with his horse on other days. When John Paul points this out to him, he responds so eloquently: “Sir, it seems to me that the whole dispute comes from the fact that you overestimate the horse and underestimate your father-in-law. Because… everyone has gone crazy about this whole conization of work. That supposedly, by the 18th century, most of the work done by peasants will be done by horses? But I think it’s nonsense. Who will replace the peasant? Let’s think about it. Who will replace him in his titanic work?” It’s great fun when the doctor tells John Paul that he’s getting obese, for which he happily thanks him.
“1670”. Hidden jokes on every level
The creators of the series “1670” did not stop at gags in the dialogues. All production departments tried to add something from themselves, so we can also find jokes hidden in everyday objects. Using materials available in the 17th century, they created, for example, a wheelchair for a disabled cat, designed by Aniela, played by Martyna Byczkowska in the series. There are many, many more similar flavors. When a medic comes to the village, we will not only see the inscription in a mirror image on his carriage. On the roof of the “ambulance” there is also a real rooster sitting in a cage, crowing, announcing that the doctor is approaching.
You will also see what Stanisław has for fun when his father calls him to drive the peasants to work with the motivational cry “hop, hop, hop”. The young man plays with the “picture viewer”, where he can scroll through the drawings and follow the news from around the world.
‘1670’, quotes from the series Robert Pałka/Netflix, promotional materials
The costumes in the series are a whole separate story. In fact, they were created from scratch for production purposes. For example: the fabric from which the tycoon’s son’s outfit is made is decorated with his initials, following the example of the Louis Vuitton brand. That’s still not all. Costume designer Katarzyna Lewińska also worked on the film “Chłopi” by DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman. In “1670” she decided to let her imagination run wild while maintaining the realities of the 17th century. She prepared full documentation of materials, colors and fabrics from the era. However, she wanted to adapt the costumes to the convention adopted in the series. In her designs, she deliberately emphasized and highlighted the differences between Eastern and Western styles of dress, marked by French and Russian influences, Netflix reports.
‘1670’, quotes from the series Robert Pałka/Netflix, promotional materials
– I wanted to move away from the model of costumes known from “The Deluge” and “With Fire and Sword” and make them more modern. With this intention, I decided to experiment and exaggerate a bit, both in terms of the scale of the pattern, excess fabric and colors. That is why, for example, a merchant who comes to visit Adamczycha has a zupan with palm trees and exotic animals. In this way, I wanted to reflect the hero’s penchant for long journeys. In turn, the merchant’s daughter, as befits a wealthy heiress, was dressed in colorful roses, thus becoming the 17th century Paris Hilton – says Lewińska.
– We wanted to have fun with the costume. We felt that we could afford it because we used historical references, but we treated them with a pinch of salt, using the convention of a comedy series – he explains. What’s more, fifteen fabric patterns were designed especially for her needs and then woven by a specialist. After completing the white and black versions, the materials were further processed. The dyeing was done by specialists from the Grand Theater. – Working on fabrics in 1670 was wonderfully exciting. The costumes gained additional visual value, like those of Jean Paul Gaultier or Christian Lacroix – says the costume designer.
And a lot of this material was needed: one nobleman’s costume required 15 to 20 meters of fabric. In total, nearly 700 different costumes were sewn. Let us add that those for Katarzyna Herman were designed and sewn by designer Tomasz Ossoliński. One of the skirts created for her character Zofia consisted of as much as 12 meters of fabric, and was later placed on a special corset.
‘1670’, quotes from the series Robert Pałka/Netflix, promotional materials
Jokes and references to pop culture should also be looked for in the musical layer. For example, in the scene of John Paul’s training before the duel in the sixth episode, you can hear the cult rock song “The Final Countdown”, which was arranged for old instruments – says director Maciej Buchwald. Or when we meet Jan Paweł’s oldest son, Stanisław, in the first episode, we see that he has his own “barn band”. The boys play an aria from “King Arthur” by Henry Purcell. The composition was created in 1691, i.e. 21 years after the action of the series. – It’s a well-thought-out procedure. In this scene, Stanisław explains to his father that he is playing the avant-garde. In this way, he is truly ahead of his time, Buchwald jokes. Let us remember that when John Paul makes a fuss about noise, Stanisław shouts back: “Dad, this is how the music is played now: late baroque!”
‘1670’, quotes from the series Robert Pałka/Netflix, promotional materials
Alert viewers can also spot the creators of the production in the series. In the eighth episode, director Maciej Buchwald plays a peasant with a knife in his back, and second director Kordian Kądziela plays a peasant whom Aniela teaches about garbage segregation. Then producer Ivo Krankowski played the role of a member of the theater troupe dressed as a woman – Bogdan takes the hallucinogenic mushrooms from him and says “I love eating edible things”. Nils Cronè, the director of photography, also made a guest appearance: we will see him as a painter in the duel scene. Producer Jan Kwieciński plays a painter in the last shot of the series, and the scriptwriter Jakub Rurzałło, responsible for all the jokes and the entire concept, played the role of a scribe at the regional council.
‘1670’, quotes from the series Robert Pałka/Netflix, promotional materials
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.
