It is such a privilege to experience _Dekalog 3_ and _4_ on the
big screen, on Christmas Eve no less. The digitally remastered
"prints" (or data-sets?) from Janus are lovely. No scratches
anymore in this computer age, of course. (In the old days, when
travelling retrospectives reach my area, the prints were already
well used.) Though shot for TV, _3_ is as beautifully and
ingeniusly lensed as anything that has graced the big screen. The
nocturnal film has an otherworldly spectral beauty, with soft-focus,
flickering reflections of artificial lights -- holiday decorations,
traffic signals, vehicle headlights -- hovering like holy spirits.
They seem to watch over the lonely orphans, the aged, and the drunks
that inform the subtext of the deeply sympathetic and generous
story. Cinematographer Piotr Sobocinski would go on to shoot
Kieslowski's _Three Colors: Red_; many of the same color and lighting
motifs found there, especially his way of focusing on tail lights of
vehicles suddenly speeding away, are already in evident in _3_.
In both films, motor cars literally embodies the souls of their
owners.

I have never given the actress who plays Ewa, Maria Pakulnis, enough
credit. Her acting within her "act," the extraordinary tactility
and sensitivity she brings to the conflicted, bitter, lonely,
and vengeful, but ultimately decent ex-adulterer, are mesmerizing
to behold. The actress is also in _No End_; I have to rewatch
that to refresh my memory. Daniel Olbrychski ably plays her foil
Janusz, her stoic, selfless, sarcastic former lover who is still
doing penance to his wife for that indiscretion three years later.
Together they re-enact the story of a modern day Scheherazade
trying to survive one night, her would-be executioner not some
powerful king but ennui and indifference.

_3_ and _4_ are my two favorites among the _Dekalog_ episodes;
I even prefer them to _5_ and _6_ which were lengthened into
feature films. Adrianna Biedrzynska in _4_ gives a performance
equal to that of Maria Pakulnis despite her much younger age. Her
Anka is an actress who has lost her mother at a young age, and
has a special bond with her father who raises her (Janusz Gajos,
unforgettable as Mikolaj in _White_). One day she opens an envelope
meant for her only after his death, and the relevations that spill
out threaten to unravel their very intimate relationship. What
follows is an extraordinarily sensitive chamber piece, father and
daughter playing increasingly daring true-or-dare about their
feelings for each other. In one scene cinematographer Krzysztof
Pakulsi conjoins the two faces into a tableaux like Bergman's
_Persona_. With Biedrzynska acting within her act, and with
the story driven by a lie from which a wellspring of truth is
intuited, _4_ is the perfect companion piece for _3_.

Kieslowski once said he made his films for his daughter, and has
lovingly portrayed close father-daughter relationships at least
half a dozen times in his career. His relationship with his great
muse Irene Jacob is but a real-life variation of the theme. Yet
scholarship on Kieslowski has seldom touched on his real-life
daugther Marta, who must have been very private.

The interior living spaces inside the apartments in _3_ and _4_
are strikingly orderly. This is characteristically Kieslowski.
The kitchen and working desk may be full of stuff, but bedrooms
and even basement storage closets are immaculate. Kieslowski
has an orderly mind; it is only in more materialistic Paris and
Geneva that he allows the wonderfully lived-in clutter in Valentine,
Veronique, and Judge Kern's homes.

(for A.)

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