Nominated for an Academy Award, this monumental adaptation of Bolesław Prus’s novel transports the viewer to ancient Egypt, tracing the final years of the reign of the young Pharaoh Ramses XIII. Lavishly mounted, visually striking and superbly acted, Kawalerowicz’s film centres on the conflict between secular authority and priestly power.

Ramses XIII (Jerzy Zelnik) attempts to curb the influence of the priests who, aware that their privileges are under threat, begin plotting against him. At the same time, the film presents both the everyday life of the Egyptian people and the Pharaoh’s private emotional world. Love, power and politics prove inseparable, and the ruler’s decisions carry consequences not only for himself but for the entire country. This is what makes Pharaoh such a universal story about the nature of politics, the individual’s struggle against the system, and dilemmas that remain strikingly relevant to this day.

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