A comparative study on the effect of an antibiotic amphotericin B (AmB) and its copper complex on the multi component monolayers imitating the outer leaflet of human erythrocyte membrane has been performed by means of the Langmuir monolayer technique. The properties of mixed films were analyzed by thermodynamic description of the interactions between the molecules complemented with the morphology of monolayers established by Brewster angle microscopy (BAM). The results revealed differences in the molecular organization of the two antibiotic forms at the air/water interface, which were explained by the different spatial structure of the complex. The lipophilicity of the complex contributed to considerably more effective interactions with the components of the model membrane, compared to pure antibiotic, expressed by negative values of the excess of free energy of mixing Delta G(exc) in the whole range of mole fractions. The mixed films with AmB were more stable as the proportion of lipids in the mixture increased. BAM images demonstrated that the addition of antibiotic at high content into the lipid mixture led to the formation of crystallite structures within the film, probably caused by the expelling of AmB molecules from mixed monolayers. These findings could help to explain the mechanism of the hemolytic activity of polyene antibiotics.