I think the film "A Short Film about Love" is a better descriptor than the commandment "Thou shalt not commit adultery" in this case because the "adultery" in this sense is much more symbolic than some of the other segments of the Decalogue. Most of the Decalogue is steeped in layers of symbolic and discursive intention, making this a moot point, but altogether I must say that this is one of the least well-developed and thematically linked segments within the Decalogue.
A young schoolboy finds himself fascinated with a neighbor who is sexually prolific but longs to find someone she can truly connect to. The schoolboy translates his feelings to love (haven't we all at some point?) and pursues the neighbor, who finds herself genuinely interested in this purveyance but has become too cynical about love to accept his approach. When the two of them mesh, it results in uncomfortable emotional lack of responsibility that endangers the boy's frail (and in my opinion shallow) mind.
Once again dealing with opposites, Kieslowski's structured relationship between the two is not only the focus but the most interesting aspect of this episode, mostly since the woman's current lover is banal and the boy's history is uninteresting. Still, something about the obsessive tendencies of love and the difficulty in interpreting feelings sticks well, and is one of the film's best themes.
--PolarisDiB
A young schoolboy finds himself fascinated with a neighbor who is sexually prolific but longs to find someone she can truly connect to. The schoolboy translates his feelings to love (haven't we all at some point?) and pursues the neighbor, who finds herself genuinely interested in this purveyance but has become too cynical about love to accept his approach. When the two of them mesh, it results in uncomfortable emotional lack of responsibility that endangers the boy's frail (and in my opinion shallow) mind.
Once again dealing with opposites, Kieslowski's structured relationship between the two is not only the focus but the most interesting aspect of this episode, mostly since the woman's current lover is banal and the boy's history is uninteresting. Still, something about the obsessive tendencies of love and the difficulty in interpreting feelings sticks well, and is one of the film's best themes.
--PolarisDiB