Standby Painter (2018) - full transcript

Our objective
is a reconstruction of the events

on the 17th and 19th of September 2000

in the exhibition rooms
of the National Museum.

Taking part are: Inspector Mazurczak,

of the forensic laboratories
of Poznan police,

who operates
a Panasonic video camera M-50,

and the witness Lucyna Kazimierczak

Kazimierowska...
- Kazimierowska... I'm sorry.

The participants

have been warned

that the procedure will be recorded



on a Panasonic E-120 tape.

Emotions... quite strong.
I'm coming back to that.

I don’t know if I’d prefer to keep

this officialor nonofficial version.

I don't know, really.

Or, if I’d prefer to keep
what is commonly known...

I don't know what I prefer.

So here I have quite a serious
dilemma in my life.

Expressing this is even harder for me

because I've never shared it
with anyone before.

I wish that people who might
watch it one day

can judge what I’ve done

in September 2000, 17 years ago.

I remember this day.
There was heavy rain.



I told myself: "That's a good sign."

I said: "Dear God, please give me strength."

I looked in the mirror...

What now, old man?

The time has come
and you have to do it.

Nobody will do it instead,
you're alone.

Can you tell me exactly

what you were doing
on 17 September, on Sunday?

From 11:00 everything went on normally.

As usual?
- As usual. Yes

There was not so much traffic.

And...

around 12:30,

a man came

who...

Did this man introduce himself?

No, he only said

that he would like to sketch a landscape

which hangs in...
- In the neighbouring room?

Under your care, right?
- Yes.

Let's go there.

And he asked for a chair.

He asked if he could have a chair.

That's the painting.

Can you read what's written?
- 'Landscape with Cattle'

How did I come up with the idea?

To make that replica of the landscape,
by the Dutch painter?

Because it was next to the 'Beach'.

The idea was I would pretend
I was focusing

on the painting
next to the 'Beach', Monet.

Did you ask this man if he had

a permit to make a sketch?

Yes: 'Do you have a permit?'

He said he wanted to sketch.

He said he had
a permit from the manager,

that everything was sorted.

But he had very little time.

To the National Museum in Poznan.

In order to search for new themes,
artistic impressions

and because I'm currently trying
to become a member

of the Association of Polish Fine Art Artists,
the branch in Krakow,

and because my work will be evaluated
by the selection committee,

I plead with a polite request to issue
a permit to make a sketch on bristol.

I must stress that my goal is not to make
a copy, but to capture a visual moment

and a style that the artist
of the selected work, used

which will enable my own interpretation
of my own painting.

Thank you in advance.
Sincerely, Jacek Walewski.

I took it from the surname, Malczewski,

but I have changed a few letters.

I didn't even see this permit,
to be honest,

but it was there.

I was just supposed to introduce myself

with my fake name.

Light turtleneck

and short hair.

Round face.

What else can I say about this man?

Nobody really paid attention
to people present there

The ladies,
they do their job in a rather...

light-minded way.

After he entered he chose
this painting, then what?

I've allowed that

'Please, take the chair.'
I've even carried it.

He said thank you,
and laid down the bristol

then said he’ll be sketching.

Please show me, how did you walk,
and what was your rhythm?

What did guarding this man look like?

Where were you standing,
where were you walking?

There, I had this chair.
I sat down for a little.

This was the rhythm?

Yes, this rhythm.

This is how I walk and...

I don't run from room to room.

All the time I was thinking
it is impossible to do.

But somewhere inside I felt
that my inner strength...

Because I was so determined,
I told myself: it must work.

It must be done because...
because it must.

They were not working
in that particular moment.

How did you know?

I can't tell.

I had nothing to do with it.

Just a coincidence.

Someone from above was guarding me

and thought, just like myself,

that it had to be done
and that it must succeed.

I think the same now.

How did he keep his sketchbook?
- It was mostly lying flat.

I even bent to look a this sketchbook.

Closely?
- Yes, just before he finished.

And what stage was it?
Were there any outlines?

There were some...

meadows.

But there was no cattle there.

Only a bit of the meadows... yellowish.

Maybe you can tell us

how he was proceeding?

What was his position?

Was it like this?

Yes, yes... exactly.

He was standing like this,
painting with a green crayon.

Because he also had some crayons here.

There was a moment
that wasn't very nice

One lady was surprised

that for 2-3 hours
she could only see underlay,

some bad drawings...

let's say, not very understandable.

And at one point

she comes and there is a painting,

almost finished.

So she was surprised and even asked:

'Have you already painted it?
A few seconds ago there was nothing.'

'So you must be very fast.'

What else...

Then I see 'The Beach.'

Yes.

I'm standing and looking.

What do I feel?

Nothing. I'm feeling nothing.

I'm standing and looking.

Nothing happens.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

I'm looking again.

I'm looking at the 'Beach'...

and nothing, nothing,
nothing happens.

Nothing that could make me...

feel worried in terms of my behaviour.

So what now?

You look at the 'Beach'
and you make friends with it.

You don't look at it
just as a painting.

It's like falling in love.

Something like enchantment.

Was I waiting for this?
I don't know.

How long are you standing here
before your return?

It's hard to say, but maybeeven 15 minutes.

I can see this man is still in that room.

In fact you're thinking...

What are you going to do now?

What can you do now?
What must you do now?

Somewhere in your mind
the thought springs up

the project of my life...

that you must steal the 'Beach'.

Because...

if you won’t do it...

then...

then what kind of life is it
if you won't do it.

I'm looking at the “Beach”
all the time.

It is as close to me as my family,
my children, my wife.

I identify with this painting literally.

There is no more internal dialogue:

'This is not normal.
What are you talking about?'

'What are you even thinking?'

I didn't care anymore
if it's normal or not.

If you haven’t had previous

experience of theft then it's hard

to know how to do

such a difficult thing

as stealing a painting
from The National Museum.

Problem, problem.

I think for a professional thief
it would be a problem

and here it is a megabig problem...

So very big problem.

The most important thing is,
I have to hurry up.

Problem, problem.

I was living with my parents back then

with my mum, my father
and my sister.

The apartment consisted of two rooms

so I had to clean everything

in order to make simulation.

Coming closer to the wall,
going further from it.

Doing some similar...

movements that I will be doing
on the location.

I had to count my footsteps

I had to walk around the room,
to know the measurements.

I noted them in my memory.

I also knew
I had to sit down here,

in this very place.

I couldn't sit down a few meters further

or closer to the entrance

because I had to have a good spot

to see what I was copying.

Can you see him from this place?

No, I can't see him
but I know he's still there.

He can't leave,
or move to another place.

So there is a possibility that for more than

a dozen minutesyou can't see this man?

There is a possibility.

All right, let's go back to that room

in the same rhythm.

How are you walking?
- Like this.

For a moment I was looking for another
solution in order not to cut it.

Cutting a painting is a last resort

Because there is a huge risk
of damaging it.

Every cut I was making was painful

I felt it personally, even literally.

I didn't know how much time I had.

How long was this man there?
- Well...

Well...

It's hard for me to tell now
how long he was there.

I was simply checking on him
from time to time.

When I could hear the lady
coming closer to me

then I would stop.

Like a red light flashing in my head

alarm, alarm.

After a few cuts,
the last move has to be done.

So this replica
that should go into the frame

was hidden between the bristol pages.

And the exchange itself...

That was a matter of a few seconds.

Simply after sticking it
with double tape it looked whole.

It didn't matter if the replica

would be discovered a day,
two days or a week later.

Most importantly was that it wouldn't
be discovered while I was there.

When he was leaving,
you were in another room?

Yes, I was here, but when he left

I came back to this room.

Did you check the condition
of the painting?

I looked, but I hadn't noticed
anything suspicious.

And what about
the behaviour of this man?

No, He said:
'I'm going, goodbye.'

That's it.
I can't say anything more.

Of course,
I said goodbye to everybody.

I even said: 'all the best, bye'.
All very politely.

I wanted it to be elegant.

I arrived and put
the painting on the table.

My parents have a big table there.

I unfolded it and for a long time
I was looking at it.

I felt good, I felt very good.

Fantastic.

Not only fantastic, wonderful.

Why?

I was working for French Jews.

There was a situation.

It was my birthday.

I was invited for dinner
at their place.

When you enter the apartment

and the living room
where we were supposed to stay,

on the walls, there were many paintings.

So I ask them

'Are these paintings... I've seen
similar paintings in a museum.'

'Are they originals?
Are these real paintings?'

'Oh yes.'

There was Renoir

and Matisse...

and Gauguin...

and Monet...

They asked me during the dinner:

'Why are you interested in this,
Robert?'

We are approaching...

a point...

A turning point.

When I was working
for a certain person,

something happened
that changed my life.

Accidentally,
because they trusted me

the people I worked for...

Somehow I witnessed a conversation

from which I could learn there was...

a plan to steal and sell

a Monet from Poznan.

There is a shock:
I have knowledge,

I know that people
who are planning to do it will do it.

So there will be a robbery
no matter what.

What is it about?
It's about money.

If you don't know what it is about

then it's about money.

Just business.

Shock.

What are you going to do now?

What can you do now?
And what should you do now?

The simple solution would be
to make a phone call and say

that Monet is in danger,
because there is a plan.

No...

I was always looking
for strange solutions,

I always made my life
more complicated.

My idea has been conceived.

What can you do?

You can do what they want to do,

simply go and steal this painting.

So it's not going
to end up in their hands.

If it is in their hands,
that's the end.

Steal this Monet.

Steal it, simply steal it.

To save it.

To rescue it.

Because...

You simply must do it.

You simply must do it,
because if you don't ...

The police were considering
various scenarios

of this robbery.

We thought the painting
might have been stolen

for an art collector.

A very wealthy person who could
afford such a commission.

It could have been stolen
in order to find a buyer later.

The thief could even
have destroyed the painting.

I knew for a long time already

that I was wanted,

not only in Poland
but in Europe and all around the world.

There must come
an end at some point

I wanted to end it.

I stood in front of the main entrance
of a police station

with my briefcase, with Monet

I was standing
and didn't know what to do.

Long... it felt like an eternity.

I came back home

started crying,
and didn't do anything else.

For ten years, the police
were acting chaotically

They got a tip in France,
they would go to France.

They got a tip in Spain,
they would go to Spain.

There were some fake leads.

They followed but it was nothing.
A false trail.

In 2009,
I remember this day very well.

While checking these traces
and comparing them

with the fingerprints database

we found similar fingerprints
to the ones left

by the thief
on the painting's frame.

The same day
they found out the fingerprints

belonged to someone from Olkusz.

Then we quickly connected the dots.

We remembered that in 2000
this fake student

had sent letters from Olkusz,
asking for a permit

to copy paintings in that room.

Fantastic, what fingerprints?

There were no fingers.

That was information just for the public.

There were no fingers,
no fingerprints.

The only real lead was the one
I had provided them.

I was giving signals all the time
so they would catch me.

Yes.

Consequence of this information
was my arrest in 2010, January.

But the police don't know
this version of the story.

Even more so,

not only the police don't know,
nobody knows.

Nobody.

I don't care
if they will believe me or not.

This is my story, I'm real.
This is my real story.

There is no other story.

Okay,

we are starting the experiment.

We are in Olkusz.

The goal of this experiment
is to discover the place

where the stolen painting was kept

by Claude Monet 'Beach in Pourville'.

The place will be indicated
by the suspect

Mr. Robert

...Zwolinski.

We are going now to the apartment
of the parents.

To the parent's apartment where
Mr Robert Zwolinski is registered.

He also told us about watching

the famous film:
'The Thomas Crown Affair.'

in which the main character
steals paintings

just to have the man enjoy them.

But hard to say how it really was...

if this movie
was really inspiring for him.

My story keeps being sensationalised.

Sensational storylines...

There are no sensational storylines.

These are my inner feelings,
my inner struggle.

This is not for a thriller movie.

The media tried
to make me look ridiculous

and to show me as a weirdo.
Something like that.

As a man who is crazy

who steals the painting...

for love...

Literal love.

You've testified before
that it had a different colour.

The original
from the one you revealed.

I was looking...

This is sliding out

I touch it...

I moved back and took
a look at this painting.

And I say:

'There is something wrong
with the colours.'

I didn't notice that before.

So I was looking.
'Oh dear.'

Was the colour difference
noticeable for an ordinary man?

The truth is

If I didn't make this effort,

the 'Beach' wouldn't exist,
full stop.

The truth is
that in our investigations

we never have supposed

that the painting
could have been stolen

by someone who fell in love with it.

It's not easy. But who said
it would be easy and pleasant?

I decided to do it

not for the money, not for the fame,
because I'm not a star.

I am not a hero, I am nobody.

I'm a simple, ordinary man,

an ordinary man.

I repeat, an ordinary man

who had to make one of the

most important decisions
in his life

because he thought
it was his duty.

This is how I felt inside
and this is how I still feel.

This is not my version.

or version of the events...

This is my story.

We restart our experiment

after the break
to change batteries...

Did anything else
come to your mind now

that wasn't in the testimony?

Something you might want to add?

Ok, let's finish our procedure.
It's 17:56 now.

It's not easy.

But who said
it would be easy and pleasant?

This is not my version.

This is not my version.

or version of the events...

This is my story.

Again?
-Yes.

It's not easy.

But who said
it would be easy and pleasant?