Krzysztof Zanussi was born in Warsaw. Along with Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Kieslowski, he is one of the most famous Polish filmmakers. Unlike the author of "Man of Iron", however, he is less interested in the national history of his country than in a sharp reflection on the nature and destiny of man.

A triple education as a scientist (higher studies in physics at the University of Warsaw between 1956 and 1958), as a philosopher (philosophy studies in Krakow in 1959-1962) and as a filmmaker (film school in Łodź, from 1960 to 1966) developed in him the desire to understand and transpose to the screen all the components, biological, social, ethical, of the immersion of the individual in contemporary Polish society.