The cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski : variations on destiny and chance

Since his death in 1996, Krzysztof Kieslowski has remained the best-known contemporary Polish filmmaker and one of the most popular and respected European directors, internationally renowned for his ambitious Decalogue and Three Colors trilogy. In this new addition to the Directors'Cuts series, Marek Haltof provides a comprehensive study of Kieslowski's cinema, discussing industrial practices in Poland and stressing that the director did not fit the traditional image of a "great" East-Central European auteur. He draws a fascinating portrait of the stridently independent director's work, noting that Kieslowski was not afraid to express unpopular views in film or in life. Haltof also shows how the director's work remains unique in the context of Polish documentary and narrative cinema. CONTENTS 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 8 PREFACE 10 1. Documenting the Unrepresented World 16 2. Film-Essays: Kieślowski and Polish Cinema in the 1970s and During the Solidarity Period 39 i. Pedestrian Subway: A Short Film About Marriage 44 ii. Personnel: Art and Politics 44 iii. The Scar: Managers and Their Dilemmas 49 iv. The Calm: Life as It Is 53 v. Camera Buff: Meditations on Film-making 57 vi. Short Working Day: Mechanisms of Power 64 3. Choices, Chances and Politics 68 i. Blind Chance: Variations on Fate 70 ii. No End: Requiem for Solidarity 79 4. Entomological Observations and Metaphysics in Decalogue 90 5. The Double Life of Kieślowski: European Art Film and the Polish Context 123 i. The Double Life of Véronique: Doppelgängers and Puppeteers 129 ii. The Three Colours Trilogy: The Long Films About Love 137 AFTERWORD 164 NOTES 168 FILMOGRAPHY 181 BIBLIOGRAPHY 194 INDEX 200 "Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids takes us on a journey through 65 million years, from the aftermath of the extinction of the dinosaurs to the glacial climax of the Pleistocene epoch; from the rain forests of the Paleocene and the Eocene, with their lemur-like primates, to the harsh landscape of the Pleistocene steppes, home to the wooly mammoth. It is also a journey through space, following the migrations of mammal species that evolved on other continents and eventually met to compete or coexist in Cenozoic Europe. Finally, it is a journey through the complexity of mammalian evolution, a review of the changes and adaptations that have allowed mammals to flourish and become the dominant land vertebrates on Earth."--Jacket Since his death in 1996, Krzysztof Kieslowski has remained the best-known contemporary Polish film-maker, and one of the most popular and respected European directors, internationally renowned for his ambitious Decalogue and Three Colors trilogy. In this new addition to the Directors' Cuts series, Marek Haltof provides a comprehensive study of Kieslowski's cinema, discussing industrial practices in Poland and stressing that the director did not fit the traditional image of a 'great' East-Central European auteur and that his films are also unique in the context of Polish Documenting The Unrepresented World -- Film-essays: Kieślowski And Polish Cinema In He 1970s And During The Solidarity Period -- Choices, Chances And Politics -- Entomological Observations And Metaphysics In Decalogue -- The Double Life Of Kieślowski: European Art Film An The Polish Context. Marek Haltof. Formerly Cip. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Since his death in 1996, Krzysztof Kieslowski has remained the best-known contemporary Polish filmmaker and one of the most popular and respected European directors, internationally renowned for his ambitious __Decalogue__ and __Three Colors__ trilogy.