Of Elephants and Toothaches: Ethics, Politics, and Religion in Krzysztof Kieslowski

2016·4.3 MB·English

by  Eva Badowska and Francesca Parmeggiani (editors)

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“ This is a strong and timely collection that fills a gap in the existing English-language s
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scholarship on a very significant work, and the important issues it raises.”—Paul Coates, a

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“ This volume is true to the spirit of open engagement in relation to matters of ultimate a
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concern. In their Introduction, the editors cite a quote from Kieślowski that wonderfully
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expresses this openness: ‘Both the deep believer and the habitual skeptic experience g
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toothaches in exactly the same way. I always try to speak about toothaches—always. If I n
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am successful in talking about toothaches, I think everyone will understand me.’ Indeed, E
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this collection as a whole speaks to this experience of ‘toothaches’ that afflicts us all. i
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Like Kieślowski himself, the various contributors to this collection are willing to grope , P
in the dark as they explore some of the most fundamental but uncharted facets of the oO
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human condition.”—John Caruana, Ryerson University icf
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T his collection is the first to offer a genuinely interdisciplinary approach to Krzysztof dl
Kieślowski’s Decalogue, a ten-film cycle of modern tales that touch on the ethical RE
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dilemmas of the Ten Commandments. The cycle’s deft handling of moral ambiguity and ligp
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inventive technique established Kieślowski as a major international director. oh
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Of Elephants and Toothaches takes seriously the range of thought, from theological to Kn
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skeptical, condensed in the cycle’s quite human tales. Bringing together scholars of z
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film, philosophy, literature, and several religions, the volume ranges from individual zts
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responsibility, to religion in modernity, to familial bonds, to human desire and material f K &
greed. It explores Kieślowski’s cycle as it relentlessly solicits an ethical response that ie
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stimulates both inner disquiet and interpersonal dialogue. lot
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Contributors: Eva Badowska, Michael Baur, Moshe Gold, William Jaworski, Joseph G. i’sO and Religion
Kickasola, Joseph W. Koterski, Francesca Parmeggiani, Gabriella Ripa di Meana, Philip Dt
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Sicker, Regina Small, Eva M. Stadler, Emma Wilson cah in Krzysztof
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eva badowska is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at g
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Fordham University. ec Kies´lowski’s
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FranCesCa Parmeggiani is Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature
E Decalogue
at Fordham University. s
O f E l E p h a n t s & t O O t h a c h E s
Fordham University Press
New York
Eva Badowska and Francesca Parmeggiani, Editors
www.fordhampress.com
Cover image: New Yorker Films/Photofest © New Yorker Films
Cover design by A. Shahan
Of Elephants
and Toothaches
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Of Elephants
and Toothaches
Ethics, Politics, and Religion in
Krzysztof Kies´lowski’s Decalogue
Eva Badowska and Francesca Parmeggiani
Editors
fordham university press
New York 2016
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Copyright © 2016 Fordham University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical,
photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief
quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission
of the publisher.
Fordham University Press has no responsibility for the
persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party
Internet websites referred to in this publication and does
not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will
remain, accurate or appropriate.
Fordham University Press also publishes its books in a
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print may not be available in electronic books.
Visit us online at www.fordhampress.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Of elephants and toothaches : ethics, politics, and religion
in Krzysztof Kies´lowski’s Decalogue / edited by Eva
Badowska and Francesca Parmeggiani. — First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8232-6710-1 (cloth : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-8232-6927-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Dekalog (Television program) 2. Kies´lowski,
Krzysztof, 1941–1996—Criticism and interpretation.
3. Television programs—Poland—Moral and ethical
aspects. 4. Religion on television. I. Badowska, Eva,
editor. II. Parmeggiani, Francesca, editor.
PN1992.77.D44O43 2016
791.45′72—dc23
2015017365
Printed in the United States of America
18 17 16 5 4 3 2 1
First edition
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contents
Introduction: “Within unrest, there is always a question”
eva badowska and francesca parmeggiani 1
1. Rules and Virtues: The Moral Insight of The Decalogue
william jaworski 15
2. Tablets of Stone, Tablets of Flesh: Synesthetic Appeal
in The Decalogue
joseph g. kickasola 30
3. Decalogue One: Witnessing a Responsible Ethics of Response
from a Jewish Perspective
moshe gold 51
4. Visual Reverberations: Decalogue Two and Decalogue Eight
eva m. stadler 80
5. Remember the Sabbath Day, to Keep It Holy:
Decalogue Three
joseph w. koterski, s.j. 95
6. Decalogue Four: The Mother up in Smoke, or “Honor Thy
Father and Thy Mother”
gabriella ripa di meana 108
7. Decalogue Five: A Short Film about Killing, Sin,
and Community
michael baur 122
8. States of Exception: Politics and Poetics in Decalogue Six
eva badowska 140
9. Decalogue Seven: A Tale of Love, Failing Words, and Moving
Images
francesca parmeggiani 165
10. Decalogue Eight: Childhood, Emotion, and the Shoah
emma wilson 181
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vi Contents
11. Divine Possession: Metaphysical Covetousness in
Decalogue Nine
philip sicker 197
12. Laughter Makes Good Neighbors: Sociability and the
Comic in Decalogue Ten
regina small 216
Acknowledgments 231
List of Contributors 233
Index 237
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Of Elephants
and Toothaches
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Introduction: “Within unrest,
there is always a question”
Eva Badowska and Francesca Parmeggiani
Krzysztof Kies´lowski’s Dekalog (The Decalogue, 1989), which the fi lm critic
Robert Fulford has called “the best dramatic work ever done specifi cally
for television,”1 had arguably humble beginnings. The director recalls a
chance meeting in the streets of Warsaw in the early 1980s with an attor-
ney friend, Krzysztof Piesiewicz: “I bumped into him. It was cold. It was
raining. I’d lost one of my gloves. ‘Someone should make a fi lm about the
Ten Commandments,’ Piesiewicz said to me. ‘You should do it.’ ”2 In a later
documentary, the director adds, “I thought [Piesiewicz] had gone mad.”3
The idea continued to percolate, gradually developing into a project con-
sisting of “ten propositions, ten one-hour fi lms,” a solution conceptually
closest to the “ten words” of the Commandments (KK, 143). But Kies´lowski
was not yet thinking about directing The Decalogue himself, reasoning that
it would make a great debut project for ten up-and-coming young direc-
tors: “For a long time in Poland television has become the natural home for
directorial débuts.” In fact, the project seemed, at the time, tailor-made for
television production, since the state television network “wasn’t interested
in one-off fi lms. It wanted serials and, if pushed, agreed to cycles.” As the
project developed, Kies´lowski became invested in it, and, in the end, “re-
1
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