MesmeroWatch list, 0 saved

Movie
Poster for Lesser Evil

Lesser Evil

2009 · 110 min

This film offers a heavy, intellectual journey through the murky intersection of artistic ambition and political constraint.

Directed by
Janusz Morgenstern
Genres
Drama, History
Starring
Lesław Żurek, Anna Romantowska, Janusz Gajos
Overview
There is a writer who in the late 1970s managed to publish a poem in the monthly "Nowy Wyraz". It was enough to become a self-confessed writer whose name began to appear in the state media. The writer takes full advantage of his privileges - he flirts with power, sympathizes with the opposition, and collapses his studies at the same time. He is saved from going to the army by an exalted essayist whose sister is the head of the psychiatric hospital in Tworki. In a psychiatric institution, a writer meets a schizophrenic who writes a novel. After his suicide, the protagonist takes over the draft, which he publishes outside of censorship under his name, thanks to which he gains fame, fame and money. August '80 breaks out....

Your rating is saved. See your suggestions, or find titles like this one below.

Rate it, and Mesmero finds titles that feel like it. You do not need an account.

Search YouTube for a trailer

In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Janusz Morgenstern
Genres
Drama, History
Starring
Lesław Żurek, Anna Romantowska, Janusz Gajos
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • cynicalstrength 2 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • power
  • art
  • politics
  • freedom
  • corruption
Places
  • workplace
  • hospital
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
None
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence none
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action3
Horror3
Humour2
Realism8
Romance2
Tension8
Darkness7
Complexity7
Emotional weight8

More like this

Titles like Lesser Evil

Movie

Emilia

2017

A quiet, heavy watch about art under pressure, where every small act of defiance carries the weight of the state.

Tense · about power and art

Via
  • tense
  • power
  • art
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
engaged
Runtime
120 min
Details
EmiliaHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Interrogation

1989

It is a suffocating and harrowing descent into the machinery of state oppression.

Cynical, dark · about power and freedom

Via
  • cynical
  • dark
  • power
  • freedom
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
118 min
Details
InterrogationHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Afterimage

2016

A somber, slow-burn portrait of artistic integrity under oppression, watching a proud man endure bureaucratic cruelty with quiet defiance.

About power and art

Via
  • power
  • art
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
engaged
Runtime
98 min
Details
AfterimageHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

The Confession

1970

A cold, methodical descent into bureaucratic cruelty that wears you down alongside its prisoner, leaving a lingering chill.

Dark, tense · about power and corruption

Via
  • dark
  • tense
  • power
  • corruption
Pacing
measured
Attention
demanding
Runtime
139 min
Details
The ConfessionHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Stalin's Couch

2016

A slow, oppressive plunge into paranoia and artistic compromise, where every quiet conversation feels watched and every favour carries a threat.

Dark, tense · about power and art

Via
  • dark
  • tense
  • power
  • art
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
engaged
Runtime
92 min
Details
Stalin's CouchHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

The Traitors

1973

A slow, sobering descent into political compromise, watching ideals rot into self-interest with quiet, mounting unease.

Cynical, dark · about power and politics

Via
  • cynical
  • dark
  • power
  • politics
Pacing
measured
Attention
engaged
Runtime
113 min
Details
The TraitorsHidden from your suggestions.
Short film

Beasts

2019

A tense, claustrophobic plunge into bureaucratic paranoia, where a small mistake spirals into a quiet nightmare of complicity.

Cynical, dark · about power and corruption

Via
  • cynical
  • dark
  • power
  • corruption
Pacing
measured
Attention
engaged
Runtime
29 min
Details
BeastsHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

A claustrophobic, intellectually charged experience that blurs performance and reality, building to a chaotic, unsettling climax.

Dark, tense · about power and art

Via
  • dark
  • tense
  • power
  • art
Pacing
measured
Attention
demanding
Runtime
116 min
Details
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de SadeHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Blindness

2016

A sombre, talk-heavy chamber piece about conscience and atonement, unfolding in hushed rooms where the weight of past cruelty presses on every exchange.

Dark, tense · about power

Via
  • dark
  • tense
  • power
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
110 min
Details
BlindnessHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Danton

1983

A somber, talk-heavy historical drama that builds quiet dread through political maneuvering and the looming threat of the guillotine.

Dark, tense · about power

Via
  • dark
  • tense
  • power
Pacing
measured
Attention
demanding
Runtime
136 min
Details
DantonHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

State of Fear

1989

A slow-burning, earnest drama that immerses you in political tension and personal compromise, asking you to sit with difficult choices.

Tense · about art and politics

Via
  • tense
  • art
  • politics
Pacing
measured
Attention
engaged
Runtime
121 min
Details
State of FearHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Wojaczek

1999

A raw, unsettling plunge into a self-destructive poet's mind, more feverish mood than tidy biography, and often hard to sit through.

Dark · about art

Via
  • dark
  • art
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
90 min
Details
WojaczekHidden from your suggestions.

Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama, history
Directed by
Janusz Morgenstern
Written by
Janusz Anderman, Janusz Morgenstern
Starring
Lesław Żurek, Anna Romantowska, Janusz Gajos, Wojciech Pszoniak, Magdalena Cielecka, Tamara Arciuch, Borys Szyc, Edyta Olszówka
Music
Michał Lorenc
Cinematography
Andrzej Ramlau
Runtime
110 min
Country
Poland
Languages
Polish

TMDBIMDbLetterboxdWikidata