Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi must be one of the smartest people ever to make movies. A child prodigy, he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a PhD in physics by the time he was in his mid-20s. While in school he also found time to teach himself filmmaking and produced more than a dozen shorts, several of which won prizes at amateur film festivals; on the strength of their success he was accepted into the world-renowned Lodz Film Academy, where he earned his third degree, in directing. By the time he made his first full-length narrative film, The Structure of Crystal (1969), he had already developed a worldview all his own, informed in roughly equal measure by hard science and metaphysics. Crystal kicked off a remarkably prolific period; before slowing down in the mid-80s, Zanussi would direct at least one feature every year, several of which are ranked among the best Polish films of their time.

The Constant Factor (1980) covers similar territory, hinting at grand metaphysical themes that clash with a story of everyday disappointment; Zanussi makes no attempt to reconcile them, and his stubborn refusal to do so gives the film an eerie opacity. As in The Illumination, the main character is a scientifically inclined young man searching for personal fulfillment. Witold idolizes his father, who died in a climbing accident in the Himalayas when Witold was only 12. (Stanislaw Latallo, star of The Illumination, had died in 1974 while ascending the Himalayas.) Witold dreams of someday climbing the mountain range himself, but apart from that he has no life goals. After finishing his military service, he passes up a chance to study mathematics and takes a job as an electrical engineer, since it will allow him to save money and travel to other countries on contracting assignments. When he discovers rampant corruption at the company where he works, he pours all his idealism into fighting it, but this alienates him from his peers and eventually costs him his job. At the end of the film he’s working as a window washer, completely uncertain of his future.

The Constant Factor ★★★★ 89 min. Sun 6/1, 5 PM, and Mon 6/2, 6 PM.

The Illumination ★★★★ 88 min. Sun 6/22, 5 PM, and Mon 6/23, 7:45 PM.

Directed by Krzysztof Zanussi

Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State 312-846-2800siskelfilmcenter.org $11