Życie jako śmiertelna choroba przenoszona drogą płciową (2000)

The film begins in medieval France. Riding a donkey through a town, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux sees preparations for the hanging of a horse thief. He asks for the execution to be delayed so that he can first prepare the condemned man for death. This is a scene from a film being shot on a set where Tomasz Berg, a doctor in his sixties who is terminally ill with cancer, is present. He is divorced, and his former wife Anna leads a comfortable life with her younger lover, Karol. Tomasz asks her to finance a trip to Paris, where he hopes that a medical consultation will give him a chance of treatment. The trip proves pointless: the disease is too advanced. Bitter and cynical, he wants to ruin the relationship between Filip, a young medical student, and Hanka, a film makeup artist. He lets them use his apartment, believing that by bringing them physically closer, he will put an end to their relationship. During the making of the film, he meets Marek, a Cistercian monk. He visits him at the monastery, hoping to receive some sign that will help him come to terms with the fact that there is no hope for him and that his death is inevitable. In the film’s final scene, among the students taking part in an anatomy class in the dissection room, the professor chooses Filip and hands him a scalpel. For the young man, this is a turning point: he must decide whether he wants to continue on the path he has chosen. Filip approaches Tomasz’s body lying on the table, making his choice—he will be a doctor.