Film

The Story of Sin

Name: The Story of Sin
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 1975
Cast: Grażyna Długołęcka, Mieczysław Voit, Marek Walczewski, Marek Bargiełowski, Janusz Zakrzeński

A Polish woman chases her lover across Europe, only to be caught in the schemes of men who see her beauty as currency. Andrzej Żuławski's 1975 adaptation is sensual and severe—a portrait of vulnerability weaponized by desire. It's for viewers who want romance that doesn't look away from its own cruelty.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a long, lush, unapologetically melodramatic period piece where a restless, sensual camera drives a story about a woman pushed around by men's schemes, and you don't mind the excess.

Skip it if you need a tight plot or a restrained tone, since this one is sprawling, often lurid, and treats its heroine's suffering with a leer as much as with pity.

What it asks of you: Settle in for two-plus hours of episodic travel, the mood swinging from romance to cynicism and back, with framing and dialogue doing much of the work.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Chinatown1974

A woman at the mercy of powerful men who exploit her secrets. Roman Polanski's masterpiece about corruption and desire, where every choice tightens a noose. Morally complex and visually perfect.

But Bleak and unsentimental about the world it shows. If you need your protagonist to win, or even escape, this isn't your evening.

Contempt1963

A marriage dissolves while a film is made around it. Godard's meditation on how desire and money poison intimacy. Brigitte Bardot is extraordinary, and the colours are hypnotic.

But Deliberately paced and abstract in how it thinks about relationships. Long stretches have no plot momentum—it's all mood and philosophy.

Tess1979

Polanski again, and again a beautiful woman destroyed by men who claim to love her. Based on Hardy, devastating and visually sumptuous. Nastassja Kinski is luminous and tragic.

But Deeply pessimistic about how the world treats women. Watching it is emotionally exhausting—that's the point, but it's still exhausting.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Story of Sin

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Winter Light1963

Both are studies of how desire fails us—how longing doesn't lead to love, just to damage. Żuławski and Bergman both see desire as a kind of sickness without cure.

Bergman's spare, icy meditation on faith, doubt and lovelessness. A pastor, a woman who loves him, and the gap between them that can't be crossed. Shot in black-and-white, almost a chamber play.

But Theologically austere and emotionally withholding. The characters barely touch and nobody gets what they want. It's a film about absence.

Belle de Jour1967

A woman's hidden desire becomes a labyrinth of transgression. Buñuel's enigmatic masterpiece about the gap between who we think we are and what we secretly want. Hypnotic and strange.

But Surreal and withholding about what's real and what's fantasy. If you need clarity, you won't get it.

L'Avventura1960

A woman vanishes and the search for her becomes a search for meaning. Antonioni's slow meditation on desire, betrayal and indifference. Shot with aching beauty across Mediterranean landscapes.

But Glacially paced. Dialogue is sparse and meaning is oblique. Patience isn't optional here.

Madame Bovary1991

A woman's romantic hunger destroys her. Chabrol's adaptation of Flaubert captures exactly how fantasy collides with reality. Isabelle Huppert is ice and fire.

But Repetitive in how it shows her decline—the film doesn't break the cycle, just documents it. That's the point, but it can feel punitive.

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth1970

A marriage unravels in one night during political paranoia. Jiří Menzel's Czech masterpiece about trust and betrayal. Shot in austere black-and-white, it's claustrophobic and icy.

But Deliberately obscure about what's actually happening and what's paranoia. The ambiguity isn't meant to be resolved.

Summer Interlude1951

A ballerina haunted by a love affair that ended in tragedy. Bergman's early film about how the past wounds us. Dreamlike and intimate, shot by Gunnar Fischer.

But Leans toward the poetic rather than the narrative. Plot takes a back seat to mood and memory.

The Passion of Anna1969

An affair on a remote island tears two marriages apart. Bergman's chamber piece about desire as a force of nature. Shot on a shoestring but somehow immense.

But Confined and repetitive in how it circles the same emotional conflicts. Very 1960s in its willingness to leave things unresolved.

Briar-Rose or the Sleeping Beauty1990

Both explore how a woman moves through a world that's hostile to her autonomy. Where Żuławski is tragic, Ruiz is absurdist—but the trap is the same.

A woman wakes from a coma and has to navigate her own life as if it were a stranger's. Directed by Raúl Ruiz, it's a maze of time and identity, dreamlike and perversely funny. Shot in video, deliberately cheap-looking.

But Experimental and often opaque about what's literal and what's metaphor. The form is part of the point, not a distraction from it.