Blog post on Little Rose

            Set in Warsaw on the backdrop of the Polish government’s anti-Zionist campaign in 1967-1968, Jan Kidawa-Błoński’s film Little Rose dives into that world, humanizing the actions of the Polish secret police, dissidents, and those caught in between and bringing the tangled relationships between these three groups into focus.  The film tracks the evolving relationships of three central characters: the secret policeman Roman Różek, the dissident Adam Warczewski, and the coopted informant Kamila Sakowicz, who signs her reports as the title’s Little Rose.

            Little Rose depicts these characters’ living spaces as reflective of their personalities and plot lines.  Kamila’s apartment possesses the potential to be something more, but it remains raw and bare.  Her place tells the story of a woman, an orphan, who is still trying to carve out a place for herself in the world and is clearly concerned with upward social mobility.  Kamila’s apartment has a feminine quality to it, as seen by the lace she finds to cover her table and the various knick knacks shown in the background.  It is the site of her early sex scenes with Roman, before their relationship decays into one filled with secrecy and hurt.  The viewer is also privy to Kamila’s private moments when she enjoys luxuries brought back from Adam’s apartment: the wine and various books. 

            Roman’s apartment is always in shadow, with sunlight filtered through the windows.  It seems to serve more as a shrine to boxing and aggression than anything else; the audience can only view Roman’s office space and trophy cases.  The actions that take place in his apartment are generally unpleasant, especially towards the end of the film when Roman tries to rape Kamila on the desktop.  In this space we witness attempted rape, fights, and sexual encounters that become more impersonal over the course of the film.  Roman’s apartment lacks any boundary between work (writing and reading informant reports) and sexual pleasure and pain.

            In contrast, Adam’s living space is portrayed as homey, serene, and safe.  Flowers decorate the apartment and we see shots of his bedroom in addition to his office.  His place is filled with fine old furniture, and the warm colors of the décor are comforting.  Upon first entering his apartment, Kamila is impressed with the walls full of books and the wine that Adam serves; his is the home of a cultured man.  It harbors a close family, as exemplified by the scene of the Warczewskis gathered around a crackling fire on Christmas Eve.  Adam and Kamila have intellectual discussions as well as sexual relations here, indicating the strength of their bond over the mostly physical relationship between Kamila and Roman.

           Just as his home is privileged over Roman’s, so Adam himself is presented as a smart, coherent, educated contrast to the brash, uncultivated Roman.  Yet it is important to distinguish Adam from the other dissident writers portrayed in Little Rose.   For the most part, these writers are depicted as petty and not particularly virtuous.  Though they intellectually oppose the regime, their primary concerns are still their careers and personal desires.  Adam emerges as the hero among them, delivering the inspiring speech at the Writers’ Union that ultimately causes a change of heart in Kamila.  In addition, Adam is the first person we see treat Kamila with respect: He admires her studies, seeks to improve her writing, takes a personal interest in her hobbies, and loves her tenderly.

            While Adam does exemplify truth and virtue in Little Rose, he is at best a flawed dissident hero.  Adam is completely fooled by Kamila’s seductive acts at the beginning of the film and totally ignorant of her reports for Roman.  Even after Adam learns of her deceit, he chooses to ignore the humiliation of being duped and decides to marry Kamila.  Though Adam does believe in truth and virtue, it would seem that love and the personal gratification he gains from being with Kamilia eclipse those ideals.

            Roman and Kamila, both coming from impoverished backgrounds, form a relationship based on desperation and lust.  The orphaned Kamila has no one but Roman in her life, and this loneliness makes her crave his love and attention.  Theirs is a very physical relationship, evident during the first nightclub scene and the sex scene that immediately follows.  As the movie progresses, Kamila grows apart from Roman, recoiling from his aggressive nature, and is drawn instead to Adam.  This transition is fueled in part by Kamila’s growing role as an informant.  Though Roman does care very deeply about her, he is pressured at work to push her closer to Adam. 

            The scenes involving nudity reveal much about the characters’ thoughts and personalities.  In one early scene, Roman argues with a nude Kamila in her apartment, his hostile and offensive behavior juxtaposed with her openness, honesty, and vulnerability. When their relationship is withering, the final sex scene with Roman is particularly impersonal, devoid of conversation and eye contact, and afterwards Kamila lies curled in the fetal position.  Adam, in contrast, is much tenderer with Kamila, holding her hand as they make love.  Kamila’s nudity finally signals her resignation after Roman exposes her as an informant to Adam.  When Roman comes to her door, she simply drops her clothing and bares herself, as if she were a sex worker for hire.

            The very sexual nature of Kamila and her relationships, combined with the consequences of her actions, would seem to qualify her as a femme fatale.  She is aware of her attractiveness and exploits it to make Adam fall in love with her initially so that she can extract information.  Kamila, however, differs from the femme fatale in her intention.  She does not want to control or harm Adam; she actually believes that if she proves Adam’s innocence, all will be well.  Kamila accepts the job of informant because she wishes to please Roman and perform a significant job.  In writing up her reports, she seems more ambitious than malicious. Most importantly, Kamila undergoes a transformation that disqualifies her as a femme fatale even as it suggests her heroism.  After Adam has been intimidated and beaten by two secret police thugs, she decides to marry him. 

            Kamila’s story in Little Rose resembles that of the protagonist Sabina in another recent Polish film about the communist era, Reverse (2009).  In Reverse, Sabina struggles with her own secret policeman-suitor, Bronek.  Yet Sabina is the antithesis of Kamila in terms of her cultured background and carefully concealed anti-government ideology.  She lives with her mother and grandmother in a very comfortable apartment secured by her brother, who is a successful socialist realist painter.  Sabina’s relationship with Bronek is barely established when he asks her to inform; he comes into her life from a different place shrouded in mystery and sweeps Sabina off her feet in a whirlwind romance.  Such an impression cannot last forever, though, and the once-smooth Bronek suddenly loses his touch.  Sabina understands that she is being used and despatches her seducer with the help of her entire family.

            The film Little Rose thrives on uncertainty, so it is no surprise that the final scenes bear out this pattern.  The first ambiguity involves Adam’s death.  Was he murdered?  The single rose left at the base of the stairs to Adam’s apartment suggests that Roman was somehow involved.  Yet the cause of death, Adam’s fall from a ledge to the pavement, and the undisturbed nature of the apartment make Roman a somewhat dubious perpetrator.  Was the death a suicide?  Adam at this point had been stripped of almost everything he loved – his writing, job, reputation – and perhaps he only married Kamilia to ensure that his daughter would be cared for.  But this scenario does not account for the rose left by the stairs and does not reflect Adam’s otherwise brave character.

            The final train station scene raises even more questions.  After Roman’s Jewish identity is revealed by his superior, he is to be expelled from Poland as part of the anti-Zionist campaign.  As he is boarding the train, Roman looks most vulnerable, the lone traveler without a family member or friend to wish him well.  At the last minute, he sees Kamila watching him from behind a fence.  Perhaps Kamila’s decision to come to the station is her way of closing this chapter in her life; she needs to see Roman leaving to know that their relationship really is at an end.  Yet perhaps Kamila still cares for Roman.  Regardless of which is the case, when Kamila and Roman share a final look, the film reminds us that their intentions were initially aligned: They both longed to move up in the world and live the good life, as they knew it, together.  And in Roman’s final smile there seems to be an understanding that, despite everything, he is significant enough for Kamila to watch him leave.

Edited by Jane Chen and Alex Radek