A classic melodramatic story about the fascination of a Pole, Marek Wolski, with a Jewish girl, set against the backdrop of the reality of fascism rising. One of the less known films by Janusz Majewski – one that is warm and light-hearted.
In the fall of 1938, Marek Wolski, a veteran who fought in Spain, is healing at the Karlovy Vary health resort. One day, he finds a ticket laying in the street. Jewish violinist Ida Fischer will be playing a concert. Wolski decides to go, but it turns out he and two other people are the only audience. It’s the result of fascist militias boycotting the performance. Marek and Ida get to know each other, their relations become more intense with time. Meanwhile, fascism enters their daily lives. Because of her ethnicity, Ida is asked to leave the hotel. The two main characters decide to move to the country to a friend painter Hrusa. Right before leaving, Marek buys Ida a souvenir – a rose preserved in salt water. After arriving in the country, they become lovers, but the dark reality of the coming war reaches them there, too. When the Sudety mountains are captured by the Germans, Marek is sent to a camp, where he manages to survive the war. Once it’s over, he returns to Karlovy Vary in search of Ida. He finds a portrait of Ida painted by Hrusa on which she holds the symbolic rose. There is also a boy Marek, named after his father.
