This is a glossily shot but overlong biopic of two-time Olympic gold-winning boxer Jerzy Kulej that tries to position him as a kind of errant bad boy folk hero; a kind of Polish George Best or Diego Maradona. But as it takes place in the late 60s, when Poland wasn’t exactly swinging but very much wanted to, Xawery Żuławski’s film mostly treats him with a weird indulgent levity that over-cranks the performances and neuters the stakes.
Returning from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Kulej (Tomasz Włosok) is a national hero. Under pressure from his wife Helena (Michalina Olszańska) to better their lot, he cuts a deal with his police superior Col Sikorski (Cold War’s Tomasz Kot) for a new apartment in return for becoming a poster boy for the People’s Republic. But the fattening dossier on their GOAT – boozing, womanising, suspected illegal gambling – means that his participation in the subsequent Olympics in Mexico City looks increasingly doubtful.
The film’s subtitle means “two sides of the medal”, and much ado is made about Kulej’s ferocious temper. The film takes too long, though, to dramatise this dark half, preferring instead to offer larky, quick-cut vignettes of the slugger’s new celebrity and family life that are like Raging Bull crossed with the Monkees. This lightweight stance not only undermines Kulej himself – who seems more like a lamentable manchild than a tempestuous icon of the times – but also weakens the sociological heft of the plotline in which Helena tries to seek out independence for herself in a slowly liberalising Poland.
Fortunately, considering the actual bouts are also a bit so-so, Żuławski takes a leaf out of Kulej’s own playbook for a sudden rally in the final half hour. The tone markedly hardens as Helena is forced to make a brutal choice in order to ensure that her wayward husband goes to Mexico, and the drama finally starts to put down roots. Thanks to Olszańska’s self-possessed performance anchoring the pair’s rocky romance, it’s a biopic that finally proves a more capable lover than a fighter.
• Kulej. Dwie Strony Medalu is in cinemas on 18 October
