Zofia

Zofia is a resident of a social care home, but she treats her stay there as temporary, living “beside” the collective community. She tries to earn some extra money through small means—collecting and selling bottles, playing the sports lottery. One rainy evening, she accidentally passes by a film set and catches the director’s attention, who wants to use the authenticity of her character in a cameo. Multiple retakes fail to achieve the desired effect; Zofia leaves upset and in tears. An older, lonely crew member, Władysław, tries to comfort her, but to no avail. Zofia’s next job is also accidental—she begins posing for sculpture students at the Academy of Fine Arts studio. Though the work tires her daily, she continues to live in isolation and does not participate in the nursing home’s events. Eventually, Władysław comes to her room and hands her the fee for her film role, proposing they spend Christmas together. Zofia declines—she has other plans and goes to her daughter and son-in-law’s, where she intends to live permanently. Her arrival embarrasses the young couple: it forces them to organize a traditional holiday. Zofia sets about cleaning, including her son-in-law’s study, where he is preparing his doctorate, accidentally destroying months of work. Despite the absence of an argument and the presence of the Christmas Eve carp in the bathtub, there will be no family celebration. Zofia quietly leaves the apartment and spends the evening in a train station restaurant, in the company of a waiter and a gypsy orchestra. As she prepares to depart by train, she hands out presents to the children and throws the rest out the window, ending her solitary yet quietly meaningful story.