{"id":19099,"date":"2026-03-06T14:05:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/?p=19099"},"modified":"2026-04-24T16:44:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:44:00","slug":"film-lhomme-au-crane-rase-by-andre-delvaux-at-cinematek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/en\/2026\/03\/06\/film-lhomme-au-crane-rase-by-andre-delvaux-at-cinematek\/","title":{"rendered":"Film:\u00a0\u00ab\u00a0L\u2019Homme au cr\u00e2ne ras\u00e9 \u00bb\u00a0by Andr\u00e9 Delvaux at CINEMATEK"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

L’Homme au crane ras\u00e9<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is one of the first Belgian films with an international career. The screenplay of this debut film by Andr\u00e9 Delvaux, one of the classics of Flemish magic-realist cinema, is based on the novel of the same name by Johan Daisne. The main character, lawyer Govert Miereveld, teaches at a girls\u2019 school in a provincial town. He harbours a secret platonic love for his pupil Fran, which plunges him into a downward spiral of mental disorientation.

FRAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2019Fran\u2019 is the first word pronounced in the film, Fran\/Eufrezia Veenman\u2019 is played by Countess Beata Tyszkiewicz<\/strong> (Beata Maria Helena Tyszkiewicz-Kalenicka).<\/p>\n

The Polish actress was born into a Polish noble family on 14 August 1938. In 1955, she made her film debut as a 16-year-old schoolgirl.<\/p>\n

From 1958 to 1959, she studied drama at the Drama Academy in Warsaw. Afterwards, she was expelled from school because of her noble descent.<\/p>\n

She did not return to film until 1960. She made her breakthrough as an actress with the film\u00a0Manuscript Found in Zaragoza<\/strong>\u00a0(1964) by Wojciech Jerzy Has. In the 1960s, she often played noble roles in costume dramas such as\u00a0The Doll\u00a0<\/strong>by Wojciech Has and\u00a0The Ashes<\/strong>\u00a0by Andrzej Wajda. She worked together with leading directors such as Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Zanussi, Andr\u00e9 Delvaux and Andrzej Wajda. Tyszkiewicz played in more than a hundred films, including the biopic about \u00c9dith Piaf,\u00a0\u00c9dith et Marcel\u00a0<\/strong>(1983) by Claude Lelouch and\u00a0La Petite apocalypse<\/strong>\u00a0(1993) by Costa-Gavras.<\/p>\n



\"\"<\/p>\n

As Gertjan Willems writes in his essay, the female characters in the film are far less present and occupy subordinate, submissive roles. Fran is the only significant female character in the story. She is a thread running through the entire film. From the first scene to the last, she embodies not only Govert Miereveld\u2019s desire but also the grey zone between reality and fiction, so essential to Delvaux\u2019s magical realism. Through the female character, the film navigates the boundary between the external world and the inner world. It is up to the viewer to decide what is real and what is not. Fran is not the sexual object of the film; rather, she is Govert\u2019s muse\u2014his inspiration, his adoration, his strength, and his vulnerability. She is the star of Govert Miereveld, from the graduation ceremony where she performs a romantic song to their unexpected meeting at the hotel years later, when she has become the diva who affects Govert\u2019s sense of masculinity. \u201cThe madman is the other,\u201d Delvaux used to say. The distinction between Govert\u2019s reality and the reality of the external world is therefore irrelevant.

\"\"
Andr\u00e9 Delvaux met the Polish actress while making a large documentary series on Polish cinema for Belgian television. He was immediately impressed and eventually chose her for the role of Fran\/Euphrasia Veenman, much to the delight of Daisne, who praised her performance enthusiastically.<\/p>\n

In addition to discussing the importance of the female character, Gertjan Willems also elaborates on the national and international success of this modernist masterpiece, which can undoubtedly be placed on the same level as the works of Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, Jean\u2011Luc Godard, and Agn\u00e8s Varda.<\/p>\n

Context<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gertjan Willems<\/strong> is a film and media specialist. He teaches at the University of Antwerp and is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Cinema and Media Studies at Ghent University. For CINEMATEK and CINEA, he wrote an essay on L\u2019Homme au cr\u00e2ne ras\u00e9, in which he analyzes the characters in depth, situates the film within the Belgian and international historical context, and draws attention to some striking details. The full essay contains several revelations about the film. It is up to you to decide whether to read the text on the CINEA website before or after watching this fascinating film. Be sure also to watch this short introductory video by Gertjan Willems about Andr\u00e9 Delvaux and his work, based on the restored version of\u00a0L\u2019Homme au cr\u00e2ne ras\u00e9<\/em>.<\/p>\n

21 March at 7:00 PM<\/strong><\/span>
CINEMATEK<\/strong>, 3 Rue Ravenstein, Brussels
BOOK YOUR TICKET<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

On the occasion of the centenary of the director, the programme\u00a0\u201c2026 \u2013 The Year of Andrzej Wajda\u201d<\/strong>, and as part of CINEMATEK\u2019s\u00a0\u201cAndr\u00e9 Delvaux Centenary\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0cycle.<\/em><\/p>\n



\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L’Homme au crane ras\u00e9\u00a0is one of the first Belgian films with an international career. The screenplay of this debut film by Andr\u00e9 Delvaux, one of the classics of Flemish magic-realist cinema, is based on the novel of the same name by Johan Daisne. The main character, lawyer Govert Miereveld, teaches at a girls\u2019 school in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":18982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,100,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programme-en","category-film","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFilm:\u00a0\u00ab\u00a0L\u2019Homme au cr\u00e2ne ras\u00e9 \u00bb\u00a0by Andr\u00e9 Delvaux at CINEMATEK - Instytut Polski w Brukseli<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/en\/2026\/03\/06\/film-lhomme-au-crane-rase-by-andre-delvaux-at-cinematek\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pl_PL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Film:\u00a0\u00ab\u00a0L\u2019Homme au cr\u00e2ne ras\u00e9 \u00bb\u00a0by Andr\u00e9 Delvaux at CINEMATEK - Instytut Polski w Brukseli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"L’Homme au crane ras\u00e9\u00a0is one of the first Belgian films with an international career. 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The screenplay of this debut film by Andr\u00e9 Delvaux, one of the classics of Flemish magic-realist cinema, is based on the novel of the same name by Johan Daisne. The main character, lawyer Govert Miereveld, teaches at a girls\u2019 school in a provincial town. He harbours a secret platonic love for his pupil Fran, which plunges him into a downward spiral of mental disorientation.FRAN\n\u2019Fran\u2019 is the first word pronounced in the film, Fran\/Eufrezia Veenman\u2019 is played by Countess Beata Tyszkiewicz (Beata Maria Helena Tyszkiewicz-Kalenicka).\nThe Polish actress was born into a Polish noble family on 14 August 1938. In 1955, she made her film debut as a 16-year-old schoolgirl.\nFrom 1958 to 1959, she studied drama at the Drama Academy in Warsaw. Afterwards, she was expelled from school because of her noble descent.\nShe did not return to film until 1960. She made her breakthrough as an actress with the film\u00a0Manuscript Found in Zaragoza\u00a0(1964) by Wojciech Jerzy Has. In the 1960s, she often played noble roles in costume dramas such as\u00a0The Doll\u00a0by Wojciech Has and\u00a0The Ashes\u00a0by Andrzej Wajda. She worked together with leading directors such as Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Zanussi, Andr\u00e9 Delvaux and Andrzej Wajda. Tyszkiewicz played in more than a hundred films, including the biopic about \u00c9dith Piaf,\u00a0\u00c9dith et Marcel\u00a0(1983) by Claude Lelouch and\u00a0La Petite apocalypse\u00a0(1993) by Costa-Gavras.\nAs Gertjan Willems writes in his essay, the female characters in the film are far less present and occupy subordinate, submissive roles. Fran is the only significant female character in the story. She is a thread running through the entire film. From the first scene to the last, she embodies not only Govert Miereveld\u2019s desire but also the grey zone between reality and fiction, so essential to Delvaux\u2019s magical realism. Through the female character, the film navigates the boundary between the external world and the inner world. It is up to the viewer to decide what is real and what is not. Fran is not the sexual object of the film; rather, she is Govert\u2019s muse\u2014his inspiration, his adoration, his strength, and his vulnerability. She is the star of Govert Miereveld, from the graduation ceremony where she performs a romantic song to their unexpected meeting at the hotel years later, when she has become the diva who affects Govert\u2019s sense of masculinity. \u201cThe madman is the other,\u201d Delvaux used to say. The distinction between Govert\u2019s reality and the reality of the external world is therefore irrelevant.Andr\u00e9 Delvaux met the Polish actress while making a large documentary series on Polish cinema for Belgian television. He was immediately impressed and eventually chose her for the role of Fran\/Euphrasia Veenman, much to the delight of Daisne, who praised her performance enthusiastically.\nIn addition to discussing the importance of the female character, Gertjan Willems also elaborates on the national and international success of this modernist masterpiece, which can undoubtedly be placed on the same level as the works of Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, Jean\u2011Luc Godard, and Agn\u00e8s Varda.\nContext\nGertjan Willems is a film and media specialist. He teaches at the University of Antwerp and is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Cinema and Media Studies at Ghent University. For CINEMATEK and CINEA, he wrote an essay on L\u2019Homme au cr\u00e2ne ras\u00e9, in which he analyzes the characters in depth, situates the film within the Belgian and international historical context, and draws attention to some striking details. The full essay contains several revelations about the film. It is up to you to decide whether to read the text on the CINEA website before or after watching this fascinating film. Be sure also to watch this short introductory video by Gertjan Willems about Andr\u00e9 Delvaux and his work, based on the restored version of\u00a0L\u2019Homme au cr\u00e2ne ras\u00e9.\n21 March at 7:00 PMCINEMATEK, 3 Rue Ravenstein, BrusselsBOOK YOUR TICKET\nOn the occasion of the centenary of the director, the programme\u00a0\u201c2026 \u2013 The Year of Andrzej Wajda\u201d, and as part of CINEMATEK\u2019s\u00a0\u201cAndr\u00e9 Delvaux Centenary\u201d\u00a0cycle.\n \n\u00a0\n\u00a0"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"pl-PL","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/en\/2026\/03\/06\/film-lhomme-au-crane-rase-by-andre-delvaux-at-cinematek\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Afb-ogen-1200x742-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Afb-ogen-1200x742-1.png","width":1200,"height":742},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/en\/2026\/03\/06\/film-lhomme-au-crane-rase-by-andre-delvaux-at-cinematek\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Film:\u00a0\u00ab\u00a0L\u2019Homme au cr\u00e2ne ras\u00e9 \u00bb\u00a0by Andr\u00e9 Delvaux at CINEMATEK"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/#website","url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/","name":"Instytut Polski w Brukseli","description":"Instytuty Polskie","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"pl-PL"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/#\/schema\/person\/f41db53be78e91d342f7df407326d8f7","name":"missonea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"pl-PL","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a34ccb132d984086e65e1c2c896f1bc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a34ccb132d984086e65e1c2c896f1bc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"missonea"},"url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/author\/missonea\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/227"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19099"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19919,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19099\/revisions\/19919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/brussels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}