A Short History of Krzysztof Kieślowski
Krzysztof Kieślowski was one of Poland's most influential screenwriters and directors. He was born on 27 June 1941 and passed away at the age of 54 on 13 March 1996.
During his career he produced documentaries about the reality of life in Poland, feature films and TV dramas. Some of his productions resulted in controversy, despite that not being his intent, due to the image they portrayed of the then communist government of Poland. The documentary Robotnicy '71: Nic o nas bez nas (Workers '71: Nothing About Us Without Us - 1971) was only allowed to be released in a censored form due to the subject matter covered: discussions between workers about their reasons for strikes in 1970.
In 1980, when Krzysztof was filming Dworzec (Station - 1980) at Central Station in Warsaw, the Polish Police were searching for a murder suspect. They confiscated footage of the documentary in the hope that the individual had been accidentally filmed. After this incident, he decided to focus on making feature films.
This did not however take him away from the authority's eyes. His film Przypadek (Blind Chance - 1981) is about a medical student called Witek who decides to take a break from studies and heads to Warsaw. The film shows three outcomes based upon his handling of an obstacle that he encounters on his way to the train station. Each scenario results in him opposing communists and also ending negatively for him. The film was initially banned by the Polish government and was not released until 1987.
It was in 1989, when he released Decalogue (Dekalog - 1989), that Krzysztof started to gain international recognition. It was a series of ten one hour films that analysed the meaning of the ten commandments. The setting was modern Poland and they were explored from a current point of view and lifestyle.
After this success, he then went on to make four films abroad. These were also to be his final ones.
The first was Podwójne życie Weroniki (The Double Life of Véronique - 1991), which was a French and Polish film about Weronika (living in Poland) and Véronique (living in France) who are identical in appearance but unrelated. They do not ever meet and have different paths in life, although initially starting out similarly. Véronique suffers ill health and becomes involved with a manipulative man who is also a puppeteer. The film won five awards, including three at the Cannes Film Festival (1991), and was nominated for five others.
His final films were a trilogy called Three Colours. Each one was named after colours of the French flag:
Each colour represents one of the words from the motto of the French Republic (liberty, equality and fraternity):
In Blue, a young woman who loses her husband and daughter in a car crash attempts to free herself from grief and her past life, to start afresh.
White is about a Polish man living in France who loses everything in the divorce to his wife. He returns to Poland obsessed with his loss and tries to rebuild his life. As he gains success he plots revenge on his former wife.
The final film, Red, is about a student who develops a friendship with an old, retired judge after accidentally running over his dog.
The stories are unrelated except for one small scene present in each film, however that will be left for the viewer to spot, and the appearance of all the characters at the end of Red.
During his career he produced documentaries about the reality of life in Poland, feature films and TV dramas. Some of his productions resulted in controversy, despite that not being his intent, due to the image they portrayed of the then communist government of Poland. The documentary Robotnicy '71: Nic o nas bez nas (Workers '71: Nothing About Us Without Us - 1971) was only allowed to be released in a censored form due to the subject matter covered: discussions between workers about their reasons for strikes in 1970.
In 1980, when Krzysztof was filming Dworzec (Station - 1980) at Central Station in Warsaw, the Polish Police were searching for a murder suspect. They confiscated footage of the documentary in the hope that the individual had been accidentally filmed. After this incident, he decided to focus on making feature films.
This did not however take him away from the authority's eyes. His film Przypadek (Blind Chance - 1981) is about a medical student called Witek who decides to take a break from studies and heads to Warsaw. The film shows three outcomes based upon his handling of an obstacle that he encounters on his way to the train station. Each scenario results in him opposing communists and also ending negatively for him. The film was initially banned by the Polish government and was not released until 1987.
It was in 1989, when he released Decalogue (Dekalog - 1989), that Krzysztof started to gain international recognition. It was a series of ten one hour films that analysed the meaning of the ten commandments. The setting was modern Poland and they were explored from a current point of view and lifestyle.
After this success, he then went on to make four films abroad. These were also to be his final ones.
The first was Podwójne życie Weroniki (The Double Life of Véronique - 1991), which was a French and Polish film about Weronika (living in Poland) and Véronique (living in France) who are identical in appearance but unrelated. They do not ever meet and have different paths in life, although initially starting out similarly. Véronique suffers ill health and becomes involved with a manipulative man who is also a puppeteer. The film won five awards, including three at the Cannes Film Festival (1991), and was nominated for five others.
His final films were a trilogy called Three Colours. Each one was named after colours of the French flag:
- Three Colours: Blue (Trois couleurs: Bleu - 1993)
- Three Colours: White (Trois couleurs: Blanc - 1994)
- Three Colours: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge - 1994)
Each colour represents one of the words from the motto of the French Republic (liberty, equality and fraternity):
- Blue - Liberty
- White - Equality
- Red - Fraternity
In Blue, a young woman who loses her husband and daughter in a car crash attempts to free herself from grief and her past life, to start afresh.
White is about a Polish man living in France who loses everything in the divorce to his wife. He returns to Poland obsessed with his loss and tries to rebuild his life. As he gains success he plots revenge on his former wife.
The final film, Red, is about a student who develops a friendship with an old, retired judge after accidentally running over his dog.
The stories are unrelated except for one small scene present in each film, however that will be left for the viewer to spot, and the appearance of all the characters at the end of Red.
