The cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski: variations on destiny and chance PDF
Preview The cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski: variations on destiny and chance
‘The most comprehensive review of Kieślowski’s career that will no doubt DIRECTORS’ CUTS become the primary book for anyone interested in his films. Thoroughly t researched, meticulously documented and fluently written … Through h e extensive coverage of his body of work, Haltof is able to trace Kieślowski’s c artistic evolution in new ways and with compelling arguments.’ in e tomasz warchol Georgia Southern University m a ‘An extremely efficient, solid and reliable survey. Its major contribution is o to broaden awareness of the relationship between his work and the Polish f cinematic context, and to acquaint readers with a range of Polish critical k responses to Kieślowski’s oeuvre.’ r paul coates University of Aberdeen z y Since his death in 1996, Krzysztof Kieślowski has remained s z the best-known contemporary Polish film-maker, and one t of the most popular and respected European directors. In o this study Marek Haltof provides a comprehensive study f of Kieślowski’s cinema, from his early documentaries and k student films to television projects and award-winning i features. The book discusses industrial practices and the e context of Polish cinema from the late 1960s as well as wider Ś l European film-making, and stresses that the director is more o than merely a ‘great East Central European auteur’, his films w being as unique to Poland as elsewhere. Coverage includes s discussion of The Double Life of Veronique, Decalogue and k the Three Colours trilogy – Blue, White and Red. i DIRECTORS’ directors’ cuts focus on the work of the most significant the cinema of k r z y s z to f k i e Ślow s k i CUTS contemporary international film-makers, illuminating the variations on destiny and chance creative dynamics of World Cinema. m a marek haltof is Assistant Professor at Northern Michigan r e University in Marquette. He is the author of several books k in English and Polish, including Peter Weir: When Cultures h a Collide (1996) and Polish National Cinema (2002). l t o f ISBN 978-1-903364-91-8 cover photography marek haltof maciej musial wallflOwER fciullmt usrtauld isetsudies rob.bcowodvene@r vdiregisni.gnent 9781903 364918 Cover InDesign.indd 1 23/03/2012 10:53 the cinema of KRZYSZTOF KIEŚLOWSKI DIRECTORS’ CUTS Other titles in the Directors’ Cuts series: the cinema of EMIR KUSTURICA: notes from the underground GORAN GOCIC the cinema of KEN LOACH: art in the service of the people JACOB LEIGH the cinema of WIM WENDERS: the celluloid highway ALEXANDER GRAF the cinema of KATHRYN BIGELOW: hollywood transgressor edited by DEBORAH JERMYN & SEAN REDMOND the cinema of ROBERT LEPAGE: the poetics of memory ALEKSANDAR DUNDJEROVIC the cinema of GEORGE A. ROMERO: knight of the living dead TONY WILLIAMS the cinema of TERRENCE MALICK: poetic visions of america edited by HANNAH PATTERSON the cinema of ANDRZEJ WAJDA: the art of irony and defiance edited by JOHN ORR & ELZBIETA OSTROWSKA the cinema of DAVID LYNCH: american dreams, nightmare visions edited by ERICA SHEEN & ANNETTE DAVISION the cinema of NANNI MORETTI: dreams and diaries edited by EWA MAZIERSKA & LAURA RASCAROLI the cinema of MIKE LEIGH: a sense of the real GARRY WATSON the cinema of K RZYSZTO F K IEŚLO WSKI variations on destiny and chance marek haltof WALLFLOWER PRESS LONDON & NEW YORK A Wallflower Book Published by Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York • Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © Marek Haltof 2004 All rights reserved. A complete CIP record is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 978-1-903364-92-5 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-903364-91-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-231-50402-7 (e-book) Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii Preface ix 1 Documenting the Unrepresented World 1 2 Film-Essays: Kieślowski and Polish Cinema in the 1970s and 24 During the Solidarity Period i. Pedestrian Subway: A Short Film About Marriage 29 ii. Personnel: Art and Politics 29 iii. The Scar: Managers and Their Dilemmas 34 iv. The Calm: Life as It Is 38 v. Camera Buff: Meditations on Film-making 42 vi. Short Working Day: Mechanisms of Power 49 3 Choices, Chances and Politics 53 i. Blind Chance: Variations on Fate 55 ii. No End: Requiem for Solidarity 64 4 Entomological Observations and Metaphysics in Decalogue 75 5 The Double Life of Kieślowski: European Art Film and the 108 Polish Context i. The Double Life of Véronique: Doppelgängers and Puppeteers 114 ii. The Three Colours Trilogy: The Long Films About Love 122 Afterword 149 Notes 153 Filmography 166 Bibliography 179 Index 185 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Northern Michigan University in Marquette for sup- porting this work with a generous grant. In the course of writing this book, I also received help from a number of individuals. I wish to thank Dr Anton Kozlovic (Flinders University of South Australia), Adam Cichorski (‘Poli- mark’ in Calgary), Marek Domaradzki (Calgary), Prof. Alicja Helman (Jagiellonian University), Dr Mikołaj Jazdon (University of Poznań), Dr Jan F. Lewandowski (‘Silesia Film’ in Katowice), Prof. Wacław Osadnik (Uni- versity of Alberta), Dr Elżbieta Ostrowska (University of Łódź/University of Pittsburgh), Prof. Mirosław Przylipiak (University of Gdańsk), Irena Strzałkowska and Krzysztof Zanussi (Tor film studio in Warsaw) and Dr Piotr Zwierzchowski (University of Bydgoszcz) for assisting in the preparation of this book in various ways. Special thanks go to Adam Wyżyński at the National Film Archives in Warsaw for his help with researching Kieślowski’s documentary films. I am also grateful to other members of staff of the National Film Archives, Grzegorz Balski and Robert Mazurkiewicz in particular, for their generous assistance, as well as for providing the majority of the illustrations reproduced within this book. Other still photographs come from the Tor film studio headed by Krzysztof Zanussi. I am also very grateful to Dr Bohdan Y. Nebesio (University of Alberta) and my colleagues in the Department of English at Northern Michigan University: Dr David Boe, Dr Russell Prather and Emily Walter, for their insightful comments on evolving versions of the manuscript. Similar words of gratitude go to two anonymous readers commissioned by Wallflower Press. As always, I would like also to thank my wife Margaret Haltof for her unfailing support. This book is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Danuta Haltof (1924–2002). vii Fragments of Chapter 5 appeared as ‘Krzysztof Kieślowski: European Art Film and National Context’ in A World of Slavic Literatures: Essays in Comparative Slavic Studies in Honor of Edward Możejko, edited by Paul D. Morris (Bloomington, Indiana: Slavica, 2002), 79–89; part of Chapter 2 was published as ‘Screening the Unrepresented World: Kieślowski’s Early Film-Essays (Personnel, The Scar and The Calm)’ in The Polish Review 48, 4 (2003), 463–79. viii PREFACE Born on 27 June 1941 in Warsaw, Krzysztof Kieślowski became the best- known contemporary Polish film-maker of the 1990s. His fame spread beyond national borders toward the end of the 1980s. Dekalog (Decalogue, 1988), a ten-part series of contemporary television films loosely inspired by the Ten Commandments, was hailed by Western European film critics as a great achievement and incontestably placed its director among the ranks of renowned European auteurs. In particular, extended feature versions of two parts of Decalogue, Krótki film o zabijaniu (A Short Film About Killing, 1988) and Krótki film o miłości (A Short Film About Love, 1988), were exceptionally well received in Europe. Kieślowski’s international co-productions, Podwójne życie Weroniki (La Double Vie de Véronique, The Double Life of Véronique, 1991) and his filmic trilogy, Trois couleurs: bleu, blanc, rouge (Three Colours: Blue, Red, White, 1993–94), consolidated his position as a household name in European art cinema. His subsequent unexpected decision to give up film- making, for health reasons, was treated with disbelief by a number of critics. On 13 March 1996, Kieślowski died in Warsaw following heart bypass surgery. His premature death at the age of 54, and at the peak of his artistic powers, came as a profound shock for the world film-making community. Scholars and critics often discuss Kieślowski’s road to film-making. They stress his nomadic childhood that placed him in a succession of schools due to his father’s tuberculosis which required treatment in different sanatoria. The same motif of unsettled childhood returns powerfully in interviews with Kieślowski including the best-known work in English, Kieślowski on Kieślowski, edited by Danusia Stok.1 In 1962 Kieślowski graduated from the Warsaw College for Theatre Technicians (Państwowe Liceum Techniki Teatralnej) and worked for one year as a tailor at the Warsaw Contemporary Theatre (Teatr Współczesny). On his third attempt, in 1964, he was admitted to the famous Łódź Film School (Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa, Telewizyjna i Teatralna), completing his studies there in 1968. After a series VARIATIONS ON DESTINY AND CHANCE ix 01 Preface 9 18/1/04, 2:06 pm
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