I Hate Mondays

An ordinary Monday in Warsaw. In different parts of the city people who know nothing of each other live the same day: an Italian on an official errand for whom nothing goes right, a generous Polish American who has come back, clerks whose work collapses, people waiting in queues, people who cannot make their appointments. As the day advances the stories touch one another. Tadeusz Chmielewski's film is among the most widely seen Polish comedies. The narrative is not directly political but its target is clear: how bureaucracy makes daily life impossible. The humour rests not on exaggeration but on the piling up of troubles that really happened. The multi-strand structure is ambitious for its period and aims to show the city whole. Lines from the film stuck in Polish popular culture. Who it's for: Viewers who like Polish comedy, multi-strand narratives, and satire of bureaucracy. Who it's not for: Most of the jokes are tied to the Warsaw of its period and much is lost from outside. The structure is also loose in places.