General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Absolute Beginners

Absolute Beginners (Polish: Absolutni debiutanci) is a 2023 Polish coming-of-age romantic drama series for Netflix, created by Kamila Tarabura and Nina Lewandowska, in which two teenage best friends spend their last seaside summer filming a short film for drama school and meet an aspiring athlete who awakens unfamiliar feelings in both of them.¹^•² It premiered on October 25, 2023, with six episodes of about 46 minutes each.³

Key fact	Detail
Original title	Absolutni debiutanci
Premiere	October 25, 2023, worldwide on Netflix¹
Format	1 season, 6 episodes of about 46 minutes³
Directors / writers	Directed by Kamila Tarabura and Katarzyna Warzecha; written by Tarabura, Nina Lewandowska, and Jędrzej Napiecek²
Lead cast	Martyna Byczkowska as Lena, Bartłomiej Deklewa as Niko, Jan Sałasiński as Igor²
Genre / rating	Drama, romance, LGBTQ+; TV-MA in the United States, 15 in the United Kingdom⁴^•³
Reception	94% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer; 7.3/10 on Filmweb from about 13,000 user ratings; 7.2/10 on IMDb⁴^•⁵

Spoilers

Premise

Lena (Martyna Byczkowska) and Niko (Bartłomiej Deklewa) are lifelong best friends whose families share a vacation house by the Baltic coast. Lena, a young woman on the autism spectrum for whom the camera becomes a way of connecting with the world, has written a script that the two plan to shoot over the summer as an entry to directing exams at the Łódź Film School. Shortly after arriving, they meet Igor (Jan Sałasiński), the captain of a youth basketball team from Silesia attending a pre-season camp, described as free and rebellious. As Igor becomes part of the bold short film about love, Niko confronts his complicated feelings for Lena, and for Igor.⁶^•²

The teenage plotlines are interwoven with the turbulent stories of the parents, who are searching for passion and fulfillment of their own; the family dynamics touch on issues such as infidelity.¹^•⁷ Producer ATM Grupa described the series as a story about growing up and about the choices that separate teenage life from adulthood.¹

Production

The series is an original story, not based on a book, and not an adaptation of a Harlan Coben novel like earlier ATM Grupa productions for Netflix.²^•¹ In an interview, co-creator Nina Lewandowska said the seed of the story was a real vacation recounted by Kamila Tarabura, who as a teenager made a film with a close friend to apply to film school; Lewandowska then proposed alternative versions of events, and the character of Igor emerged from that exercise. The title came about when Tarabura's friend, the model for Niko, played the David Bowie song "Absolute Beginners" during a phone call and the story suddenly fell into place.⁸^•⁹

Filming took place in the Polish seaside towns of Łazy, Sopot, and Ustka, and in Łódź and Warsaw.² The production was financed with support through the Act on Financial Support for Audio-Visual Production by the Polish Film Institute and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, with Tomasz Naumiuk as cinematographer and Magdalena Zielska as producer.¹

For Tarabura, the series was her directing debut, and she was reported as the youngest Polish director to have delivered such a project for Polish Netflix; she had previously made the coming-of-age short Chodźmy w noc (Into the Night).¹⁰

Reception

Polish critics received the series warmly. Culture.pl's review called the six-episode series the best coming-of-age series made in Poland and a breakout of the season, noting that its creators kept the focus on their characters rather than on issues.⁶ Polish reviewers singled out Byczkowska's performance as Lena and praised the series for avoiding exaggerated teen stereotypes and for handling its sensuous material without embarrassment; Krytyka Polityczna ranked it among the best Polish series of 2023.¹¹^•¹² On Rotten Tomatoes the season holds a 94% Tomatometer, with critics noting that although the premise is familiar, nuanced characters and an emphasis on emotion distinguish the show.⁴ Not all reviews were positive: The Review Geek's November 2023 review scored the season around 2 out of 5 overall and called the drama flat.¹³

Common Sense Media's parents' guide rates the series 15+ for sex scenes, pervasive language, and drinking and smoking by both teenagers and adults, while crediting it with a sensitive portrayal of sexuality and themes of individuality and self-expression.⁷

Context in Polish streaming drama

The series belongs to a wave of young-adult and coming-of-age originals from Central and Eastern European production companies for international streamers, a category in which ATM Grupa, Poland's largest independent production company, has been prominent, also producing the Harlan Coben adaptation The Woods and HBO Europe's first Polish original The Border.¹⁴

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Drama and prestige series (individual series) › Teen and coming-of-age drama

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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