Andrzej Å»uÅ‚awski made a film about the creative struggles of his fictional colleague, Lucas Kessling (Francis Yuster), who is adapting Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel for the screen. The most difficult thing was to find an actress for the leading female role. Lucas liked the expressive model Ethel (Valerie Capriski), but she knew nothing about life. And the role required a woman who had been through a lot, who had experienced and been humiliated… The director found a compromise. He decided to model a suitable school of life for Ethel.