The true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman who, in the 1930s, was known as the most accomplished piano player in all of Poland, if not Europe. At the outbreak of the Second World War, however, Szpilman becomes subject to the laws imposed by the conquering Germans. By the start of the 1940s, Szpilman has seen his world go from piano concert halls to the Jewish Ghetto of Warsaw and then must suffer the tragedy of his family deported to a German concentration camps, while Szpilman is conscripted into a forced German Labor Compound. At last deciding to escape, Szpilman goes into hiding as a Jewish refugee where he is witness to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April 19, 1943 – May 16, 1943) and the Warsaw Uprising (1 August to 2 October 1944).

The Pianist (2002)
  • Rating: (199,007 votes)
  • Tagline:Music was his passion. Survival was his masterpiece. »
  • Runtime:150 minutes
  • Director: Roman Polanski
  • Countries:France, Poland, Germany, UK
  • Actors:
    Wladyslaw Szpilman
    Adrien Brody
    Dorota
    Emilia Fox
    Jurek
    Michal Zebrowski
    Henryk
    Ed Stoppard
    Mother
    Maureen Lipman
    Father
    Frank Finlay
    Halina
    Jessica Kate Meyer
    Regina
    Julia Rayner
    SS Slapping Father
    Wanja Mues
    Mr. Lipa
    Richard Ridings
  • Genres:Biography, Drama, History, War
  • Producers:
    Robert Benmussa
    producer  
    Timothy Burrill
    executive producer  
    Daniel Champagnon
    line producer  
    Gene Gutowski
    co-producer  
    Henning Molfenter
    executive producer  
    Roman Polanski
    producer  
    Lew Rywin
    executive producer  
    Alain Sarde
    producer  
    Rainer Schaper
    associate producer  
  • Plots: A brilliant pianist, a Polish Jew, witnesses the restrictions Nazis place on Jews in the Polish capital, from restricted access to the building of the Warsaw ghetto. As his family is rounded up to be shipped off to the Nazi labor camps, he escapes deportation and eludes capture by living in the ruins of Warsaw. Written by Anonymous
The Pianist
  • User's comment:Stoic, haunting tale of survival by MisterWhiplash

    The Pianist tells the story of such a man in war time Poland, played by Adrien Brody, who from start to finish sees his life literally getting worse and worse and worse- starts off with new rules from the Nazis, then the stars on the arms, followed by the Warsaw ghetto, and while there he could play in the restaurant, that too soon ended, as the trains arrived and took his family and anyone else he knew away. During this he narrowly escapes, and from then on the film in a sense almost becomes not exactly a holocaust film, but more like a cross of that as the element and the basic structure of something a-la in Cast Away: this includes stretches of scenes showing Brody simply trying to keep out of view of the Germans, either in a small apartment provided by helpful Polish Christians/Jewish resistance, or as a scavenger in the abandoned sections of the ghetto, all while feeling the old rhythm of the piano in his head and fingertips.

    This is the kind of magnificent filmmaking that shows a director not only being as true to the story given to him (that of Painist Szpilman, based on his autobiography) but to his past as well- Roman Polanksi faced similar conditions as a boy in the early 40's, and has found the best line to show, never crossed or mis-stepped, in representing the characters and the period. There aren't any hints of tightened suspense, no clues as to where the film could veer to, it just is. The big difference to be seen between a film like this and Schindler's List is not just in the people and situations (Schindler's List was a film about two people, Schindler and Goeth, in the foreground while the Pianist is a total first person tale), yet also in the filmmaking qualities being here surely European. And while the accents on the Polish-Jewish actors sounds a bit too British, that is quite forgivable considering the scope of the project (thank heavens he didn't put in English speaking Germans).

    In conclusion, Brody turns in a superb performance, and this indeed is in with Polanski's best, a deserved of 2002's Palme D'Or. Great music too. A+


  • Quotes: Wladyslaw Szpilman: I don't know how to thank you. Captain Wilm Hosenfeld: Thank God, not me. He wants us to survive. Well, that's what we have to believe. Wladyslaw Szpilman: No. Please. I'm Polish. I'm not a German.
  • Also known as: El pianista (Argentina), El pianista (Mexico - imdb display title), El pianista (Peru), El pianista (Spain - Catalan title), El pianista (Spain), Pianista (Czech Republic), Pianista (Poland), Pianista (Slovakia), Pianisten (Denmark), Pianisten (Finland - Swedish title), Pianisten (Norway), Der Pianist (Austria), Der Pianist (Germany), Le pianiste (Canada - French title), Le pianiste (France), O Pianista (Brazil), O Pianista (Portugal), Ο Πιανίστας (Greece), Пианист (Russia), A zongorista (Hungary), Il pianista (Italy), O pianistas (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title), Pianisti (Finland), Pianistul (Romania - imdb display title), Pijanist (Croatia - imdb display title), Pijanista (Serbia), Piyanist (Turkey - Turkish title), Senjô no pianisuto (Japan), The Pianist (Sweden - imdb display title),

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