On the eighth day of the week, all wishes come true, or so it goes in the story by Polish writer Marek HLASKO, from which this remarkable film was based. Director Aleksander FORD's film was a rare collaboration between a West German (CCC FILMKUNST by Artur BRAUNER) and a Polish film company (ZESPOL FILMOWY STUDIO) in the 1950s.
The story is set in war-torn Warsaw. Young lovers Agnieszka (Sonja ZIEMANN) and Piotr (Zbigniew CYBULSKI) are searching for suitable accommodation for their first night together. Piotr lives in a house destroyed by World War II bombs, which then collapses on its residents during the course of the story. The image of the little boy suspended over the precipice on a rope will remain unforgettable. Agnieszka, on the other hand, still lives with her brother Grzegorz (Tadeusz LOMNICKI) with her ill-tempered parents (the later James Bond villain Ilse STEPPAT from ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and Bum KRÜGER). No place, nowhere for the young couple in love. Everywhere, the two encounter obstacles and malicious people who are only too keen to observe what they are up to. But their friend Ela (Barbara POLOMSKA) takes a different approach, presenting Agnieszka with a new "fiancé" every evening. At one point, Piotr and Agnieszka become so desperate that they drink a little too much vodka and promptly find themselves in a candy-colored department store. For a brief moment, the dreary black and white becomes a riot of color, which particularly highlights Sonja ZIEMANN's bright red coat. Nothing helps! The housing crisis in communist-ruled Poland is simply too severe. Or could Agnieszka's chance encounter with a journalist (Jan Swiderski) provide a solution after all?
Sonja Ziemann (1926-2020) was the most successful film star in the West German film industry of the 1950s. Her two biggest hits, Schwarzwaldmädel / Black Forest Girl (1950) and Grün Ist Die Heide / The Heath Is Green (1951), each attracted more than 16 million viewers. Tremendous numbers that German-language cinema can only dream of today! However, she had to wait until 1958 for a demanding role like that in Der Achte Wochentag (The Eighth Day of the Week). Her reward was an invitation to the Venice Film Festival. And Marek Hlasko became the West German diva's second husband. After that, Sonja ZIEMANN was ready for more challenging films like GRAND HOTEL and DARKNESS FELL ON GOTENHAFEN, both from 1959.
In Poland, however, the cheeky film about two lovers looking for their own room ended up in the censor's poison cabinet for 25 years. The conditions described in the film simply couldn't exist in a communist country. No way!
