Writers: Andrzej Golda and Jan Holoubek
Director: Jan Holoubek
A doppelganger is defined as an apparition or double of a living person. It is appropriate, therefore, that Director Jan Holoubek’s film Doppelganger (co-written with Andrzej Golda), is so stuffed with deceptions it does not feature an actual doppelganger.
In 1977 Hans Steiner (Jakub Gierszal) is reunited in Alsatia, France, with the birth mother who was forced to abandon him when the Nazis invaded Poland during World War II. Actually, Hans is a cuckoo in the nest; his real name is Józef Wieczorek – a spy working for Polish intelligence and gathering information about Polish citizens who may be critical of the authorities. This is particularly significant as, in the period covered by the film, industrial unrest grows in Poland and the Gdańsk Shipyard becomes a focal point for organised resistance to the Communist dictatorship.
Józef embeds himself into an unsuspecting family in Alsatia and, by exploiting their influence, obtains employment at the Immigration Offices from where he can secure information on people who might wish to escape from the Polish authorities. Meanwhile, the actual birth child of the woman Hans Steiner has claimed as his own mother, resides in Poland. Jan Bitner (Tomasz Schuchardt), a worker at the Gdańsk Shipyard discovers, following the death of his mother, that he was adopted. As Hans Steiner has effectively taken Jan’s identity Polish authorities frustrate Jan’s efforts to trace his mother so as to prevent the subterfuge from being uncovered.
Angered by the attitude of the authorities Jan becomes increasingly radicalised and willing to trade information about the political unrest in Poland to media outlets in return for the information he seeks. Meanwhile Józef has started to go native and enjoy the decadent pleasures of the west including a sexual relationship which does not please his superiors.
Director Jan Holoubek sets the atmosphere of a classic spy genre movie from the beginning with scenes captured in moody shadows. However, the film makes the point that, for Polish citizens during the period, such a mood of paranoia and suspicion was the norm. At the early stage of his entirely reasonable investigations Jan Bitner becomes aware he is being checked out by the authorities.
Jan Bitner becomes, therefore, an everyperson representing the average citizen who, although apolitical, is forced into radical action by the repressive actions of authorities. In a neat touch documentary footage of protests at the Gdańsk Shipyard is doctored to feature actor Tomasz Schuchadt.
Jakub Gierszal plays Hans Steiner/ Józef Wieczorek as an enigma but does not conceal his lack of admirable characteristics. Whereas Jan Bitner develops heroic tendencies against his better judgement Hans Steiner seems committed to his work even though it amounts to acts of betrayal. Steiner acknowledges his initial motivation at becoming a spy was to secure his father’s approval but, even so, he demands credit when his investigations result in other people getting arrested.
As is often the case in spy thrillers secondary characters become causalities of the conflict. Yet Hans Steiner shows no sign of guilt and makes no reparations. Indeed, he is so callous as to use the urn on the grave of the woman he claimed was his mother as a drop for passing on filmed evidence to his superiors.
Doppelganger avoids the glamour associated with the spy genre; there are no fancy cars or gadgets and the scenes of espionage, while tense, are sneaky acts of betrayal. One of the rare in-jokes in the movie is Hans Steiner’s stunned reaction to a James Bond movie.
As horrendous events, characters being eliminated when they become obstacles, are treated as just part of the job, the pacing of the movie becomes pedestrian with surprisingly few dramatic moments.
With an unsympathetic central character and a slower pace than might be expected Doppelganger is not a conventional spy thriller. It does, however, offer insight into the repressive approach of the Polish authorities that pushed many average citizens into radical actions.
Kinoteka Polish Film Festival 2024 takes place in venues across London 6 – 28 March. For further information and tickets: https://kinoteka.org.uk/
