Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s dazzling epic, an adaptation of Bolesław Prus' renowned novel, revolves around a lethal power struggle in ancient Egypt. As the youthful Ramses XIII ascends the throne, he clashes with powerful priests who seek to undermine his ambition to become the greatest Pharaoh in history.
Resplendent with huge battle scenes, towering sets, stunningly choreographed sequences and spectacular design and cinematography, Pharaoh authentically evokes a world characterised by rigid hierarchy, mysterious ritual and often brutal conflict. This mesmerising film is anchored in ideas as well as spectacle – exposing a society distorted by fear, betrayal and hypocrisy.
Second Run present Pharaoh from a 2K restoration by WFDiF, Poland, supervised by the film’s cinematographer Jerzy Wójcik.
Our region-free Blu-ray also includes
an an expansive and in-depth discussion of the film by critic, curator and scholar Michał Oleszczyk, fascinating archival footage and a booklet with new writing on the film by Michael Brooke.
• Pharaoh (Faraon, 1966) presented from a 2K restoration by WFDiF, Poland, supervised by the film’s cinematographer
Jerzy Wójcik.
• Faraon – Afterword: an expansive and in-depth discussion of the film by critic, curator and scholar Michał Oleszczyk.
• Kawalerowicz in the Desert: a 1964 archival newsreel excerpt on the making of Pharaoh, filmed on location in Uzbekistan.
• Trailer.
• 24-page booklet with new writing by film historian and producer Michael Brooke.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• Region Free (A/B/C) Blu-ray.
• Easter Egg
Directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Screenplay - Jerzy Kawalerowicz and Tadeusz Konwicki
Based on the novel by Bolesław Prus
Cinematography - Jerzy Wójcik
Music - Adam Walaciński
Sound - Stanisław Piotrowski, Henryk Klimczak, Janusz Rosół
Editor - Wiesława Otocka
Production Design - Jerzy Skrzepiński
Costume Designer - Maria Czekalska, Andrzej Majewski,
Barbara Ptakowa, Lidia Rzeszewska
Main Cast
Jerzy Zelnik - Ramses XIII / Lykon
Andrzej Girtler - Ramses XII
Wiesława Mazurkiewicz - Queen Nikotris
Piotr Pawłowski - Herhor, High-Priest of Amon
Stanisław Milski - Mefres
Leszek Herdegen - Pentuer
Mieczysław Voit - Samentu
Barbara Brylska - Kama
Krystyna Mikołajewska - Sarah
More gems of Polish and international cinema
are also available on Second Run
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1967 Academy Award® / Nomination:
Best Foreign Language Film
1966 Cannes Film Festival / Official Competition
“I loved Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s films, and in particular Pharaoh, which had a fresh approach to the historical picture”
Martin Scorsese
“It's a stunning film, an ancient fable that's as austere as any Hollywood treatment of Egypt is ornate, and yet packed with detail and action that makes it utterly convincing. The widescreen desolation surrounding the story of a doomed would-be reformer is never not spectacular”
Glenn Kenny
“There's a marked anti-Soviet subtext to this 1966 Polish drama... yet it's thoroughly commanding as a period spectacle. Director Jerzy Kawalerowicz makes stunning use of colour and widescreen, evoking primitive awe with his framing of the barren desert landscape and displaying a sophisticated, modernist sensibility in his hard-angled shots of architecture and crowds”
Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader
“Kawalerowicz’s drama of Ancient Egypt has an epic sweep to match Joseph Mankiewicz’s Cleopatra, and a central performance as tortured and naturalistic as anything the stars of Method managed [...]
This standalone release of Pharaoh by Second Run is an event to be celebrated. Although commercially successful and critically lauded in its day, the film, in all its big-budget splendour, had largely fallen out of circulation for many years. [This is a] beautiful restoration by Studio Kadr”
Adrian Martin, Sight and Sound
“It was always clear that [Kawalerowicz’s] first properly large-scale and big-budget film would be unusually interesting, but
in the event Pharaoh comfortably surpassed expectations. While amply delivering in terms of the expected spectacle (which inevitably looks even more impressive to today’s CGI-jaded eyes), it’s as formally and intellectually rigorous as its immediate predecessor [Mother Joan of the Angels, 1961],
to an extent that startled some viewers in 1966 who were anticipating something more immediately crowd-pleasing”
Michael Brooke
