Summer of 1976 in Sopot. The whole city is bathed in sunshine and we immediately set off. Indeed, party is not the right word. We come across a raut which ushers in the beginning of summer. The story takes place in a luxury hotel, where Lieutenant Borewicz probably has more than one case to explain. For now, however, some representatives of the security service are sitting there and doing what they like best, which is surveillance. They don’t like Italian Journalistthat he has been staying in one of the apartments, so as part of the investigation, a local prostitute, Helena (Magdalena Popławska), will spend the night with him so that the officers can obtain incriminating evidence “just in case”.
Sex work in the Polish People’s Republic: Was it so idyllic?
Far more important than how Helena gets involved is how we spend time with her. The eye of the camera she shows us her beautiful spacious apartment, we see how the heroine prepares for the evening. It’s working hours for her, so she has to look perfect. She’s a pro and you can see that she’s already spent a lot of time in the sex industry, so she knows all the rules and makes a lot of them herself. In the first few episodes, we walk Helena through her routine of life, which was only available to a few at the time. You can see that she doesn’t have to worry about money, she lives slowly and without pressure.
The situation of the other two prostitutes, Pola and Marysia, is slightly different. Pola (Wiktoria Filus) has just lost her license to run her own business, which is selling shampoo, and Marysia (Matylda Giegżno) has to support her studies and dormitory, but she’s doing badly.
Screenwriter Aleksandra Chmielewska explained that she was inspired to tell about prostitutes of the 1970s by Anna Dobrowolska, a historian who deals with women’s sex work in the People’s Republic of Poland. The screenwriter dealt with the period when the Poles felt some slack, which translated into more moral freedom.
I just wonder if Helena, Pola and Marysia are not too modern heroines for the 70s. Their self-confidence, self-esteem, awareness of the importance of sex work proves rather that we are dealing with characters from modern serials. In “07 as in” it looked a little different. This is not to say that Krzysztof Szmagier’s “07 report in” series was a news record of the time, but it certainly captured the moment thanks to the fact that scripts were written on a regular basis. Not knowing the reality of that period, I wonder if this is not an oversimplification.
And if “Skarbona” by Szmagier would get along with Helena from “Brokat”. Was the life of prostitutes really an idyll in the People’s Republic of Poland in the 1970s?
The most elegant series of the year. Style, glitter, glitter
“Glitter” is shot beautifully. The frames are well thought out, beautifully lit. The series is the most elegant production I have seen this year. Kudos to the creators for the attention to detail. The interior of the hotel, the meals in the restaurant, the clothes of the heroines, their hair, makeup – everything is ecstatically beautiful, and you cannot take your eyes off Sopot and its inhabitants painted like this. Congratulations are due not only to cinematographer Paweł Flis, but also to the creators: Aneta Brzozowska for make-up and Katarzyna Jędrzejczyk for set design. The costumes are also beautiful (well done Agata Culak).
The plot likes to wander into the imagination of the characters and give us completely unrealistic impressions. The detachment from reality is not uncomfortable for the viewer because it is a natural reference to the thoughts of the characters and their current well-being. This is clearly seen in episode four (“It’s Gonna Be Sunny”) when Helena leaves town and spends the day on a small beach near a small seaside town. Everything is happening in isolation from the current “here and now”. Especially the scene where you eat ice cream and pick berries is an example of a carefree suspension of the action to play a little with picture and sound.
Songs, songs, songs
“Brokat” is a journey into the past of Polish song. We hear eg. “Relaxation time” by Andrzej and Eliza and lesser-known songs from the 70s, or rather – somewhat forgotten hits of that decade. A similar trick was used in Jan Holoubek’s “Rojście”, reminding us of Andrzej Zaucha’s song “I created you” in the opening scene of the series, and – as a leitmotif – Izabela Trojanowska’s “Everything I Want Today” performed by Monika Brodka .
Time to relax?
Serial it’s worse when trying to tell a complex story of heroines. The closer we get to the final, the more we get stuck in the shallows. There’s a bit of cliché and dialogue that we’ve heard somewhere in the script. When “Brokat” tries to talk seriously about the heroines, he loses ground under his feet. When it is a sound postcard from the Sopot Festival in 1976, it sounds the best and most sincere.
The aesthetics of “Glitter” is close to the first season of Jan Holoubek’s “Rojst”, as well as Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s “Córkom Dancingu”. The colorful retro vibe of songs from past decades is a new trend in which the creators of the series are getting better and better. “Glitter” sits well in costume stories and captures the moments after which everything had to change. Therefore, when social and political changes are imminent in the country, the series ends. The creators’ ambition was not to diagnose the political problems of the People’s Republic of Poland in the mid-1970s, but to tell about the women of that period. And it worked. In “Glitter” the role of Magdalena Popławska shines the most, clearly standing out from the rest of the acting creations. She is matched by Adam (Łukasz Simlat) and Karmen played by Katarzyna Warnke. The whole thing was directed by Anna Kazejak, known e.g. as director of the series “Szdź”. Worth a try.
