I watched "Ojciec Krolowej" (Father of the Queen) because I am fond of many actors participating in this film and also because I knew that Andrzej Munk was planning to use Stawinski's script. The plot is about a French nobleman, Chevalier de Charentes (Jan Englert), who is sent to Poland by the French court on a mission to bring back the Marquis d'Arquien (Ignacy Machowski), father of Marie Casimire (Anna Seniuk), wife of John III Sobieski (Mariusz Dmochowski), who brings shame upon France with his revelries. The main hero falls in love with the Marquis' guardian Helena Pogorzelska (Dorota Pomykala), participates in court intrigues, helps-unintentionally-the king to seize power over the army, and decides to stay in Poland with the beloved. " Father of the Queen" is a Polish version of the cloak-and-dagger film in the form of light comedy. The plot is attractive and fast, without any special care for credibility. The intrigue, costumes, beautiful women, chases, and duels are important. I enjoyed the acting, but not being a fan of cloak-and-dagger films, I was only mildly interested in the plot. And I could not see what attracted Andrzej Munk to this story, only to find out on the web that the script had some similarities to the situation in Poland in the early 1960s.
