Jeffrey’s Cinema #17

Jeffrey’s Cinema! This time with:

 

A short film about love, 1988
Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski

87 minutes
In Polish with English and Dutch subtitles

 

Once again, Jeffrey Babcock shows a film within the context of The Young Man as a Movie Star by Bart Groenendaal. Don’t miss it!

 

Of course Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski is considered one of the masters of modern cinema. Starting off as a documentary filmmaker, he later went on to make some of the most original movies of the end of the last century. His films always have a contemplative quality, and take an almost philosophical approach to the medium. This film, set in Warsaw, is about a lonely 19-year-old boy named Tomek who becomes sexually obsessed with an older female neighbor Magda that lives across the courtyard from him, and he starts spying on her life with a telescope. A poignant, ironic and twisted narrative unfolds from this simple situation. Kieslowski had already made a short film of this same scenario called Dekalog 6, but then decided to expand it into a feature-length movie, and give it a different ending.

 

This is a movie about longing, and the pain one feels in the state of yearning. It is a dark film in a melancholic sort of way, a kind of slap in the face, an existential bucket of cold water… but also not without a sense of black humor. Certainly no sweet sentimental Hollywoodism here! It is also a story about dreaming of what another person’s life is like, and idealizing it beyond all proportion. And let’s be clear—cinema, especially American movies—play a big part in the creation of these false desires. All of these conflicting emotions and points-of-view are explored with Kieslowski’s excellent framing, lighting, sense of mood and sharp insights.  A bittersweet film about unrequited love, and the twisted dynamics that can come out of it.

 

Jeffrey Babcock