Dekalog 5 + 6
Krzysztof Kieślowski: Dekalog 5 + 6
Fifth and sixth parts of Kieslowski’s monumental TV seriesDekalog, about the Ten Commandments. In the fifth episode, a taxi driver is murdered; the sixth episode explores the difference between love and sex, being together and being lonely.
In all episodes of theDekalog series, the characters become entangled by chance in circumstances that hold them hostage. Their lives are pale – the ten episodes are set amongst the grey concrete of a typical Polish suburb – and so is their future: higher powers seem to hold them in their grasp; any sense of ethics is present only in the background.
Kieslowski screened the series in its entirety at the Venice film festival (1989). An incredible achievement, especially during the turbulent times following the fall of the Berlin Wall, when Communist leaders were being forced to allow free elections.
Programme
Dekalog 5
Drifter Jacek violates the Fifth Commandment – Thou shalt not kill – and murders a taxi driver. Is Jacek’s death sentence as senseless as the murder? is the question Kieslowski raises.
Jacek, a young Polish man in Warsaw, stops a taxi and gets in. Shortly afterwards, without any reason, he kills Waldemar, the driver. Jacek’s motives are unclear; it’s not clear whether he even has a motive. The court sentences Jacek to death; idealistic lawyer Piotr defends Jacek, posing the question: is killing the young perpetrator not just as senseless as the murder of the driver?Dekalog 6
What if a pretty sensitive 19-year-old postal worker develops a burning love for his seductive neighbour, a promiscuous woman in her thirties? Tomek watches everything Magda does; he buys a telescope and watches from his window as Magda enters into a series of colourful erotic adventures with short-term lovers.
He doesn’t confine himself to watching: Tomek demonstrates the slightly manic behaviour of a stalker. When Magda realises that Tomek lives across the street from her, she does something unexpected: she decides to seduce the inexperienced 19-year-old, to show him that ‘love’ is an illusion. This doesn’t go down well with Tomek, to put it mildly…
Special screenings
Details
Director
Krzysztof Kieślowski
Production year
1988
Length
115 min.
Country
PL
Language
Polish
Subtitles
English
Part of
De films van Kieślowski
Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski broke through internationally with his ten-part series Dekalog, which examined the meaning of the Ten Commandments for modern humans.
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