“The Dress” tells the story of Julia (Anna Dzieduszycka), a short-grown woman in her thirties working in a hotel near the border who gets to know a young driver named Bogdan (Szymon Piotr Warszawski). 

After a while, Bogdan proposes a dinner to his new friend. As a result, Julia starts to look for an outfit for her romantic dinner. Given her height, she is forced to choose between clothes from children’s stores or sewing something to order.

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Throughout the film, Tadeusz Łysiak manages to frame the story in à twofold perspective. First, he puts the dress in the centre of the story, making it somehow the main character of the narrative. Second, he avoids falling into the trap of underlining Julia’s handicap using many close-ups, so that the viewer progressively forgets about this aspect of the woman’s life. 

“Like a mantra, we told ourselves that we are not making a movie about a short person, but a story about a woman who has desires and dreams just like any other. We wanted to create a world that would make the viewer forget about the physical otherness of the protagonist. […] We wanted Julia to be a mirror in which we would also reflect our fears, prejudices, desires, and dreams,” Łysiak explained. 

The 2022 ceremony of Oscars will take place on the 27th of March. 

Cover photo: YouTube / Warszawska Szkoła Filmowa

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen