Amongst the ten short films of the Decalogue, there is some consistency. Each one traces a knot tied by collaborator Piesiewicz. These are sometimes pretty deep and rich, as we have here.
On that, Kieslowski layers immensely effective cinematic sight, even Tarkovsky-like notions of what constitutes sight and knowing. He also pours life into the characters by movement, manner and color. His choices are so effective and integrated they turn these knots into little cinematic poems.
They are great if you like poems we have so few, after all. Or if you are affected by his long form masterpiece, Tree Colors and want some insights on how better to live it, you might come to the Decalogue for the childhood of your lover.
In these ten films twelve if you count the two extensions you'll find all sorts of different balance between Piesiewicz and Kieslowski. In this one, the seventh as ordered by the DVD release, you'll get almost exclusively Piesiewicz.
In other words, the cinematic ideas are competent but ordinary and the knot of the thing is extraordinary. You probably already know the main idea: a child with two warring mothers, one of whom is a child herself. Piesiewicz always has a reflected second story, here it is a man.
That man was a powerful writer, a man with a huge future that was stolen when he impregnated a student (and daughter of the headmistress). Now, he is a tragedy himself, the only one that Kieslowski explores. If we had a long form of this story, all the filmic coding would emanate from him.
But of the seven, this has little Kieslowski in it.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
On that, Kieslowski layers immensely effective cinematic sight, even Tarkovsky-like notions of what constitutes sight and knowing. He also pours life into the characters by movement, manner and color. His choices are so effective and integrated they turn these knots into little cinematic poems.
They are great if you like poems we have so few, after all. Or if you are affected by his long form masterpiece, Tree Colors and want some insights on how better to live it, you might come to the Decalogue for the childhood of your lover.
In these ten films twelve if you count the two extensions you'll find all sorts of different balance between Piesiewicz and Kieslowski. In this one, the seventh as ordered by the DVD release, you'll get almost exclusively Piesiewicz.
In other words, the cinematic ideas are competent but ordinary and the knot of the thing is extraordinary. You probably already know the main idea: a child with two warring mothers, one of whom is a child herself. Piesiewicz always has a reflected second story, here it is a man.
That man was a powerful writer, a man with a huge future that was stolen when he impregnated a student (and daughter of the headmistress). Now, he is a tragedy himself, the only one that Kieslowski explores. If we had a long form of this story, all the filmic coding would emanate from him.
But of the seven, this has little Kieslowski in it.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.