The 2002 biographical film about pianist Władysław Szpilman starring Adrien Brody is The Pianist.
Directed by Roman Polanski, the film adapts Szpilman’s 1946 memoir about surviving the Nazi occupation of Warsaw and the Holocaust. Szpilman was a Polish-Jewish pianist and composer who performed for Polish Radio before the war. The story follows his family’s imprisonment in the Warsaw Ghetto, their separation, and his desperate efforts to remain hidden after the ghetto’s destruction.
Adrien Brody’s performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, making him the youngest winner in that category at the time. The film also won Oscars for Roman Polanski’s direction and Ronald Harwood’s adapted screenplay. It premiered at Cannes in 2002 and won the Palme d’Or.
A common mix-up is confusing The Pianist with Schindler’s List, another acclaimed Holocaust-era film. Schindler’s List centers on German industrialist Oskar Schindler, while The Pianist focuses on one musician’s survival in occupied Warsaw.