As a producer and director, Tomasz Mandes knows how to make sex look attractive. We cannot recommend 365 Days, where physical appeal is asked to compensate for a relationship we never believe.
Fi1m perspective
The sex scenes in 365 Days (2020) look attractive, but its central relationship is hard to believe. For an erotic romance, that is a serious failing, and Tomasz Mandes, who produced and co-directed it, gives us little reason to overlook it. The film offers kidnapping and captivity as circumstances in which love might flourish, without making that proposition convincing. We were dismayed by the ease with which it asks us to accept captivity as a romantic opportunity.
Mandes moved into producing with Underdog (2019), then combined producing, co-directing and casting on 365 Days. His preference for popular-novel adaptations and archetypal romantic power struggles helps explain the choice of Blanka Lipińska's novel. He also selected Michele Morrone for the lead, part of an emphasis on casting for international appeal. Those choices suggest a producer with a clear idea of the audience he wants, but they do not excuse how little care the resulting film takes over its central relationship.
Co-director Barbara Białowąs shares responsibility for that failure, while Tomasz Klimala's screenplay gives the relationship less attention than it needs. The performances are awkward, and the film takes its premise seriously enough to make that awkwardness harder to ignore. There is nothing inherently wrong with building an erotic drama around a simple fantasy. But even a simple fantasy needs to make us believe that these particular people want each other, and attractive sex scenes cannot do all that work.
The two sequels, 365 Days: This Day (2022) and The Next 365 Days (2022), kept Mandes working across co-writing, co-directing and producing. Heaven in Hell (2023), which he wrote, directed and produced, continued his work in erotic drama beyond the trilogy. These credits establish a sustained commitment to the genre, though our judgement rests chiefly on the first film. Before another excursion into this territory, we would like him to spend more time making the people convincing with their clothes on.
Biography
Tomasz Mandes is a Polish actor, director and producer. He trained at the National Film School in Łódź, graduating in 1999, and began his career as an actor with a debut in Andrzej Wajda's Pierścionek z orłem w koronie (1992). He appeared in numerous Polish television series, including Trędowata (1999–2000) and Malanowski i Partnerzy.
Mandes is best known for co-directing the erotic drama 365 Days (2020) with Barbara Białowąs, on which he also served as producer and writer. He continued in these roles on the sequels 365 Days: This Day (2022) and The Next 365 Days (2022), and directed and produced Heaven in Hell (2023).
