Anna-Maria Sieklucka has yet to convince us as Laura Biel in 365 Days. The writing gives her little help and her awkward delivery makes matters worse, though one role is a poor basis for judging everything an actor might do.
Fi1m perspective
When Laura Biel and Don Massimo Torricelli start talking, the attraction becomes harder to believe. In 365 Days (2020), Anna-Maria Sieklucka and Michele Morrone have to suggest desire within a relationship that begins with him holding her captive. Their delivery is awkward, and the stretches between sexual encounters offer little convincing behaviour to explain the attachment. We laughed at some of the line readings, then grew tired of the film’s solemnity. It asks us to take seriously what its actors have not made persuasive.
To be fair, Sieklucka is poorly served by a film that expects attraction to settle every objection to coercion. The sex scenes are attractive, but they cannot supply the character that the dialogue leaves unwritten. Her lines need to carry both desire and the strain of the arrangement; too often, they simply sound difficult to say. We would not recommend this performance, though blaming her for the whole failure would let both the writing and her equally awkward screen partner off rather lightly.
The film was her cinema debut and her breakthrough, followed by 365 Days: This Day (2022) and The Next 365 Days (2022). Both brought her back to Laura, with Morrone again opposite her. That is three films spent with one character, which limits what the trilogy can tell us about her work elsewhere. Our objection to the first performance is clear enough; we would not turn it into a verdict on every other part she might play.
Neil Marshall’s Compulsion (2024) changes the assignment, casting her as Evie Kawalska in an English-language psychological thriller. That move beyond the erotic series is worth noting, without treating the casting as evidence that her acting has improved. We would need to see the dialogue handled with more assurance before recommending her on the strength of her name. For a first encounter with her work, we would look beyond 365 Days.
Biography
Anna-Maria Sieklucka is a Polish actress. She was born on 31 May 1992 in Lublin and graduated in 2018 from the Faculty of Puppetry at the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Wrocław.
She made her screen debut in an episode of the Polish television series Na dobre i na złe (2019). Sieklucka first appeared in a feature film as Laura Biel in the erotic drama 365 Days (2020), opposite Michele Morrone, and reprised the role (now Laura Torricelli) in the sequels 365 Days: This Day (2022) and The Next 365 Days (2022). She played Evie in the thriller Compulsion (2024).
The 365 Days films received negative critical reception; Sieklucka was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for the first film.
