A Short Film About Love

A Short Film About Love
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Krzysztof Kieślowski
Produced by	Ryszard Chutkowski
Written by	Krzysztof Piesiewicz Krzysztof Kieślowski
Starring	Grażyna Szapołowska Olaf Lubaszenko
Music by	Zbigniew Preisner
Cinematography	Witold Adamek
Editing by	Ewa Smal
Distributed by	Film Polski
Release date(s)	October 21, 1988
Running time	86 minutes
Language	Polish

A Short Film About Love (Polish: Krótki film o miłości) is a Polish romantic drama film directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and starring Grażyna Szapołowska and Olaf Lubaszenko. Written by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, the film is about a young post office worker deeply in love with a promiscuous older woman who lives in the opposite apartment building. After spying on her through a telescope, he meets her and declares his love for this jaded woman who long ago gave up on believing in love. She responds to his innocence by initiating him on the basic fact of life—that there is no love, only sex. A Short Film About Love is an expanded film version of Decalogue VI, part of Kieślowski's 1988 Polish language ten-part television series, The Decalogue. The film is set in Warsaw.

Plot

The storyline explores the themes of love and voyeurism through an examination of the relationship between nineteen-year old Tomek (Olaf Lubaszenko), raised in an orphanage, and an older woman named Magda (Grażyna Szapołowska) that begins when he spies on her life through a telescope from his bedroom window across a courtyard to her apartment. Obsessed with her, and growing bolder, the young man invents reasons to make contact until finally he meets her and confesses his conduct and feelings. Their entanglement leads to deep psychological problems for both showing, without saying, right and wrong changing back and forth. Like Kieślowski's other Decalogue films, it features the mysterious angelic 'Man In White'.

The film resembles the original television version, with minor changes and expansions to the script. The most significant change is to the ending, which was rewritten at the suggestion of lead actress Grażyna Szapołowska, who wanted the film to have a "fairytale ending". The original version ends with Tomek back at work, recovered from his attempted suicide, and telling Magda that he does not watch her anymore. The film ends with Magda's more developed concern for Tomek mirroring his earlier obsession with her. The film concludes in Tomek's room after his return from hospital. She looks through his telescope into her own apartment and Kieślowski replays an earlier scene of Magda crying in her kitchen, which had led Tomek to reveal his feelings to her, only this time she is joined and comforted by Tomek.

Cast

• Grażyna Szapołowska as Magda
• Olaf Lubaszenko as Tomek
• Stefania Iwinska as Godmother
• Piotr Machalica as Roman
• Hanna Chojnacka as Miroslawa
• Artur Barcis as Young Man
• Stanislaw Gawlik as Postman
• Krzysztof Koperski as Gasman in Magda's Apartment

Production

Filming locations

• Warsaw, Poland

Reception

Critical response

A Short Film About Love received very positive critical reviews, with many of the critics noting that the film points to Kieslowski's later masterworks. In his review in The New York Times, Stephan Holden wrote that the film "which has rich, subtly shaded performances by Mr. Lubaszenko and Miss Szapolowska, has a bleak eloquence."

In his review in the San Francisco Chronicle, Edward Guthmann called the film "well-crafted and satisfying" and prefigured Kieślowski's film Three Colors: Red.

Also reviewing at the San Francisco Chronicle, Gary Kamiya wrote, "Kieslowski has crafted a compelling portrait of love, that weed that forces its strange way through life's hardest cement."

In his review on Cinema Sights, James Blake Ewing called the film "a complex and perplexing examination of a simple rule" and praised outcome:

It's this synthesis of emotionally powerful storytelling and cinematic overdrive that makes A Short Film About Love such an unforgettable and unrelenting experience on every level. By the end, you’ve been rocked about and blown away by the power of the piece. And yet, somehow, it’s with a grace. Kieslowski doesn’t bring you down with a sledgehammer blow, but by softly and slowly picking away until he breaks you down.

On the aggregate reviewer web site Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 100% positive rating from top film critics based on 13 reviews, and a 93% positive audience rating based on 5,273 reviews.

Awards and nominations

• 1988 Polish Film Festival Award for Best Actress (Grazyna Szapolowska) Won
• 1988 Polish Film Festival Award for Best Cinematography (Witold Adamek) Won
• 1988 Polish Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actress (Stefania Iwinska) Won
• 1988 Polish Film Festival Golden Lion Award (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
• 1988 San Sebastián International Film Festival OCIC Award (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
• 1988 San Sebastián International Film Festival Special Prize of the Jury (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
• 1989 São Paulo International Film Festival Audience Award for Best Feature (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
• 1988 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Foreign Film Award
• 1988 Venice Film Festival FIPRESCI Award Nomination
• 1988 Chicago Film Critics Association Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film

Remakes

A Short Film About Love was remade in Hindi in the 2002 film Ek Chhotisi Love Story.

See also

• The Decalogue
• Decalogue VI
• A Short Film About Killing

External links

• A Short Film About Love at the Internet Movie Database
• A Short Film About Love at AllRovi
• A Short Film About Love at Rotten Tomatoes