JUST ONE LOOK
Poland, 2025, 6x45 minutes, Colour.
Maria Debska, Piotr Stramowski, Marka Malikowska, Andrzej Zielinski, Cezary Lujasewicz, Miroslaw Zbrojewicz, Monika, Krzywowska.
Directed by Marek Lechki, Monika Filipowicz.
Just One Look is one of the many adaptations of Harlan Coben’s novels for series treatment for Netflix. Coben himself has been executive producer, the adaptation is moving from the United States to various European countries, to France and Spain, more to the UK and to Poland. This is one of the Polish stories.
The focus is on Greta, married with a child, happy, with her jewellery business. One day she receives an unexpected photo, a faced crossed out, her husband in the photo, the photo of a band. The disadvantages that she was present at a concert where a fire started, people crushed, Greta surviving but with some loss of memory.
The puzzle of the film starts with Greta’s husband suddenly disappearing, the audience knowing that he was abducted by a hitman and concealed. Greta pursues the case, approached by a prosecutor whose daughter was in the photo and his search to find out what happened, and the father of her boyfriend who supplies guards to protect her.
There are mysteries concerning the identities of the people in the photo, revelations about her husband, the involvement of his sister, the lawyer who was defending the starter of the fire.
Greta is a strong character, determined, working with the police, and the final revelation of the truth – which audiences would not have been anticipating.
Which makes for an interesting and entertaining Harlan Coben mystery.
- The title? The crucial photo? The song and its performances? Mystery?
- The popularity of the novels by Harlan Coben? The television adaptations, transferring from the US to Poland?
- The moving between the present and the past? Gradual revelations of the past, complications and twists?
- The past, Greta in the past, her boyfriend, the breakup, the influence of his father? The concert, Jimmy and the performance of the song? The members of the group? The fire, deaths, Greta and her injuries, loss of memory?
- Greta’s story, in the past, the encounter with Jacek in France, her pregnancy, birth, love? The scenes of the holidays on the coast, the family scenes? memory loss? The continued presence of her boyfriend’s father, the gift of the roses each year, his sending his guards for protection? The prosecutor, his story, his visit, the quest to find out what happened to his daughter? The holiday photos, the photo inserted, the group, the scratched out image? Jacek and his leaving, disappearance, the phone calls, Greta strong, the search, his phone call, her worry, searching the information on his call discovery of Sandra, lawyer, his sister? Her defending the starter of the fire? Financial issues? Threats, the hit man? Her friendship with Camilo, her advice, her husband and his ailments, identifying the hitman, the chase, the crash, the shootings and injuries? The visits from Jimmy, his accusations that she was remembering, his death? The rescuer Jacek in the house, hospital, his death, her grief, the confrontation with Sandra, the truth? And the final realisation that she took the photo?
- Jacek, happy family, 15 years, the arrival of the photo, his leaving, phone calls, the car park, his abduction, the moves to the different houses, torture? The phone call? The rescue, the truth, his death?
- The prosecutor, summoned to the prison, a hitman and his confession, hanging himself? Fellow prisoner, becoming a hitman, wanting the money, the abductions, the threats, the encounter with Kamilla’s neighbour, the sequences with her, his killing her? The chase, the shooting, his death?
- Kamilla, long friendship, caring for the children, picking them up, at home? Her husband and his ailments? Sexuality, watching the woman from the window? Discussions with the police, giving them information, her husband’s injuries, in the hospital?
- Jimmy, the singer, the dispute about the lyrics, the clash, the fire? The group, Jacek, the prosecutor’s daughter, the presence of Sandra, Adrian and his disappearance? The visits to his mother? The revelation of the truth, identity, the financial implications? Sandra, the confrontation, her planning, the money?
- Satisfactory mystery, twists?
