The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski: Variations on Destiny and Chance

by Marek Haltof

Overview

Since his death in 1996, Krzysztof Kieslowski has remained the best-known contemporary Polish filmmaker and one of the most popular and respected European directors, internationally renowned for his ambitious Decalogue and Three Colors trilogy.

In this new addition to the Directors'Cuts series, Marek Haltof provides a comprehensive study of Kieslowski's cinema, discussing industrial practices in Poland and stressing that the director did not fit the traditional image of a "great" East-Central European auteur. He draws a fascinating portrait of the stridently independent director's work, noting that Kieslowski was not afraid to express unpopular views in film or in life. Haltof also shows how the director's work remains unique in the context of Polish documentary and narrative cinema.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781903364918
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	06/09/2004
Series:	Directors' Cuts
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.22(h) x 0.54(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Marek Haltof is assistant professor of English at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. He is the author of several books in English and in Polish, including Peter Weir: When Cultures Collide and Polish National Cinema.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Documenting the Unrepresented World i. Pedestrian Subway: A Short Film About Marriage
2. Film-Essays: Kielowski and Polish Cinema in the 1970s and Durgaing the Solidarity Period ii. Personnel: Art and Politics iii. The Scar: Managers and Their Dilemmas iv. The Calm: Life As It Is v. Camera Buff: Meditations on Film-making vi. Short Working Day: Mechanisms of Power
3. Choices, Chances and Politics i. Blind Chance: Variations on Fate ii. No End: Requiem for Solidarity
4. Entomological Observations and Metaphysics in Decalogue
5. The Double Life of Kielowski: European Art Film and the Polish Context i. The Double Life of Véronique: Doppelgängers and Puppeteers ii. The Three Colours Trilogy: The Long Films About Love
Afterword
Notes
Filmography
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Concise and direct.

Film Quarterly - David Sterritt

Concise and direct.

— David Sterritt

Film Quarterly