Set in 1960, Poland, Autumn Girl is a biopic of Kalina Jędrusik, who is a performer. She is at peak of her career but must fight some people to maintain that position. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
The movie starts with Ms Jedrusik (Maria Debska) walking with her husband, Stanislaw Dygat (Leszek Lichota) in the middle of the night. Ms Jedrusik is fumbling with her purse, trying to find the keys to her house.
A neighbour comes out and starts shouting at her for being loud. She tells Kalina that she should be ashamed of herself for being vulgar and staying out late. They get in a verbal fight.
Her husband shouts for a lady named Magda and she comes to the balcony and drops the keys to their house.
The following day, Kalina is having breakfast with her friend. They go shopping. She overhears two shop assistants bad-mouthing her. There’s a musical number.
The scene changes to naked Kalina with a different lover. They make out and engage in sexual intercourse. It’s Lucek (Krzysztof Zalewski), she has an affair with him. There’s another musical number.
Her husband comes home. She asks him about his date. He denies the allegation and says it was a work meeting. Lucek comes out and greets the husband, letting the viewers know that her husband is aware of her affair.
Kalina is cooking food for her husband and her lover as the two chat in the kitchen. They have lunch, her neighbour’s young children join them.
There’s a time-lapse to 4th December 1962. It’s Miner’s Day. Comrade Mikosz (Piotr Kazmierczak) is conversing with another singer, Mieczyslawa Burska, who seems quite jealous of Kalina.
She complains that no one will pay attention to her performance because she’ll be performing after Kalina. He introduces his successor Rysiek Molski (Bartlomiej Kotschedoff) as head of the TV entertainment department.
Mikosz says he’ll now be handling the entire TV entertainment department.
Molski claims that he is an old friend of Kalina and used to perform together. He tells everyone that she used to have a thing for him.
The shot moves to the dressing room, where the viewers witness Kalina panicking about her performance. She confidently performs on the stage and everyone is enraptured with her sensuous moves and melodious voice.
Molski asks her for dinner but she doesn’t recognize him. He tells her about his new position, but she still denies him, suggesting that she is having dinner with her husband in Warsaw.
The next day Kalina is having lunch with her husband and 2 other friends and is late for her rehearsals. She once again captures everyone’s attention with her performance.
If you have any doubts about the ending, here’s a full breakdown.
Autumn Girl ending explained in detail:
The ultimate rejection
Molski is at the shoot too, sulking about the fact that she turned him down. Kalina approaches him and asks him for drinks. Everyone goes to a party.
Molski promises to get her a fur coat after she confesses liking it after seeing a woman wear it at the party. He takes her to the coat hanger and requests him to let her try that fur. Farino, the coat hanger person, refuses because it belongs to the ambassador’s wife.
Kalina can convince him, and he lets the two in. They try different costs and are in a goofy mood. He asks her to sing for him. She agrees after a slight refusal.
He asks her if she thinks she can love him. She says no, he starts forcefully kissing her. She pushes him and runs away. Molski looks mad.
The next day she goes to meet him at his office. He tells her that he is forced to suspend all her feature television appearances. He says that they’ve been receiving a considerable number of complaints from the people who don’t want to watch her. They are offended by the dress she wore at Miner’s day and her entire personality in general.
He continues that the nation has rejected her. Her husband convinces her that everyone loves her, but that’s not the case. He just wants her to become the Polish version of Marylin Monroe.
Kalina now can’t visit or enter any Polish television building until further notice.
She is visibly upset and goes home. Her husband tells her that she is overreacting and asks her to let it go. They go to meet Kazio Kalino and go for a book signing.
A fragile ego
They later go to a party. She tries to get a role that she had previously rejected but she doesn’t get it. There’s a musical number. She leaves with her friend, Xymena (Katarztna Obidzinska). Ximena asks her to confront Molski instead of just whining.
The cleaning and veal ladies are after her and ask for their pay. She goes to her husband and asks him to talk to them. He refuses because he says he is the man. Lucek pays them. He asks her to call Jeremi (Rafal Rutkowski) for help but she refuses, saying it is embarrassing.
They go to a fashion show. Kalina encounters Molski at the after-party. She is talking with some people when a man forcefully opens her cardigan, saying that she likes showing her boobs. Stas, Kalina’s husband, punches him.
They leave the party. She admits she wanted to punch him too. But her husband says that she shouldn’t because that’s very un-ladylike. She gets upset and tells him that she doesn’t need him to defend her.
The next day she goes out with the music boy and he finally convinces her to call Jeremi. They schedule a meeting for the next day.
She asks Jeremi about her previous role as Autumn Girl but unfortunately, it has been given to someone else. She breaks up with the music boy and kicks him out. She appears heartbroken.
Lights, camera, action. Once again!
Kalina learns that Molski has kicked his secretary, Nina (Wiktoria Filus)out too. She goes to a party that her husband had arranged, in the towel and kisses a woman.
The next day she forcefully enters the Tv entertainment building. She confronts Molski about firing her secretary. She asks whether he’ll destroy every woman who’ll turn her down. He calls her vulgar and proactive.
Just as she was leaving, she stumbles across Comrade Mikosz. He informs her that Express Wieczorny had conducted a poll and she has won the Golden Mask. He asks her about making a deal with them again but she says she’ll think about it. She asks for a pay rise as starters.
She is very pleased and buys two bottles of champagne for celebration. The movie ends with her performing in a scandalous outfit.
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