Barbara Brylska - 78: Forgotten roles and explicit scenes banned by the Soviet censorship

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

June 5 (according to the passport, in fact - May 29) marks the 78th anniversary of the famous Polish actress, who has long become "ours", much more popular and beloved among the people than many domestic actresses - Barbara Brylska. Today, no one can imagine her in any other way, except for Nadia Sheveleva, and she herself does not consider this work a creative pinnacle, moreover, she admits that she has little in common with this heroine. Unexpected images in which our viewers hardly remember Barbara Brylska, scenes for which she was accused of being too frank, and the roles that changed her life - further in the review.

The actress did not hide the fact that, unlike her most famous heroine - the restrained and coldish Nadia - in real life herself was always very ardent and passionate. She often fell in love at first sight and threw herself into the pool headlong. This happened on the set of the historical drama "Pharaoh" by Polish director Jerzy Kawalerowicz, where she played the role of the priestess of Kama, and the actor Jerzy Zelnik became her partner on the set. Barbara later admitted that she always chose handsome men - and these are not constant. So it was this time - the actor's betrayal led to their separation from Barbara. And their joint film "Pharaoh" became one of the most commercially successful in Poland - it grossed $ 80 million at the box office. For Poles, this very role is still one of the most memorable. On Soviet screens, "Pharaoh" was released in 1967 and was quite popular.

In 1967, Barbara Brylska starred in the Soviet-German Western "Trail of the Falcon" along with another idol of the Soviet audience - "Honored Indian" Goiko Mitic. In this film, she got the role of the daughter of judge Catherine Emerson. She played the same heroine a year later, in the German-Yugoslav sequel to the western - "White Wolves".

On the set of the film "White Wolves" Barbara Brylska again fell in love with her partner on the set - the Yugoslav actor Slobodan Dimitrievich, with whom the romance lasted for about a year. For his sake, she divorced her first husband, electronic mathematician Jan Borovets, and was even ready to leave the cinema as he wanted. Every day spent in separation, she wrote letters to Slobodan, they thought about a wedding, but his mother opposed this - in her opinion, a divorced actress, the daughter of a simple worker and seamstress, was no match for her son's wife.

The erotic drama "Anatomy of Love", where she played the main role, became a landmark for the actress. She often nude in front of cameras, but never went beyond what was permissible, for all her passion, remaining quite chaste. There were many explicit scenes in this film. True, the Soviet viewers did not see them thanks to the efforts of the censorship, and in Poland crowds of her fans went to the show several times to see these scenes again. She asked her husband's permission to shoot them. The actress refused the understudy, but during the bed scenes Brylska asked her partner to wear nylon tights. She told the film crew: "" After this role, she received the status of the main sex symbol of Polish cinema.

Although many reproached the actress for being too outspoken, the work of Barbara Brylska in "Anatomy of Love" was highly praised by critics around the world. She herself said: "". It was in this film that Eldar Ryazanov saw her and invited her to his "Irony of Fate". And Barbara became the first foreigner to be awarded the USSR State Prize.

However, the first appearance of Barbara Brylskaya in the film of the Soviet director was not "The Irony of Fate" at all - back in 1968 Yuri Ozerov invited her to star in his epic "Liberation", and then in its sequel - "Breakthrough" and "Battle for Berlin" … And in 1973 she played the role of the German artist Marie Urbach, with whom the main character falls in love, in the film adaptation of the novel “Cities and Years” by Konstantin Fedin by Alexander Zarkhi.

At home, she was jealous of success after the overwhelming popularity in the USSR with "The Irony of Fate" and was not filmed for a long time. In addition, in the early 1980s. in Polish cinema, another type of heroine was more in demand - more assertive and even aggressive, and the soft and lyrical Brylska remained out of work. But Soviet directors continued to offer her roles - in 1988 the actress played the role of a nun in the drama "The Full Moon Hour", and in 1991 she starred in the detective story "Hey, Train Robbery", although these roles were not very popular.

In the 1990s. Barbara Brylska practically did not act in films - for 10 years she played only 5 roles in films. These years became the most difficult time in her life - in 1993 her 20-year-old daughter died in a car accident, after which the actress could not recover for a long time. According to her, 3 years have passed in a daze. She tried to drown her pain in alcohol, the family with Ludwig Kosmal broke up, and only the thoughts of her teenage son forced her to pull herself together and return to life - she confessed that her son saved her from suicide. And in the 2000s, Brylska appeared on the screens again. She was again invited to shoot in Russia, and one role followed another: Down House, Casus Belli, Admiral, etc.

The actress is very touched by the fact that in Russia she is still very much loved and invited to various projects. It remains only to wish her a long life and thank her again for all her work: The complete opposite of Nadia Sheveleva.