A short film about love

Two things to note about the title; one, it's not that short (yes, I'm being pedantic) and two, it's not really your typical love story.

Krzysztof Kieslowski is something of a darling amongst the critics and festivals, chalking up wins at Cannes on the way. His most famous films are the Three Colours Trilogy, a saga that travelled various countries and had intertwining stories. A short film about love is much more modest in it's scope but no less of an achievement. I'd take 83 minutes of this film over the whole Three Colours Trilogy, I think. The film was supposedly an expansion of a series of short films that Kieslowski made. You can kind of tell it originated as a short film, what with the few locations, the simple plotline and only a couple of characters. Not that this is criticism of the film; it still works well as a feature length and its simplicity is one of its stronger points.

A young man named Tomek lives with his friends mother in their cramped city block apartment in Poland. A similar apartment block lies parallel to theirs, where an attractive older woman lives. Tomek spends much of his free time in between menial jobs spying on the woman through his telescope. Tomek often observes as the woman welcomes in various men into her apartment to engage in meaningless sex. Like Rear Window and numerous films since, the audience ends up almost becoming the voyeur.

The film develops around Tomek's desire to infiltrate Magda's (the woman) life. This involves calling up the gas men to her apartment, sending her notices and silent calls. Kieslowski subtly explores to the two characters through their developing contact with each other. We learn more about the characters isolation, their fears and their dysfunctions. Although there is a playful score that appears every so often, the lingering memory of the film is its dependence on character looks and behaviour, using quieter moments to grab the audiences attention. I liked the relationship between the two characters; it's romantic without being suger coated, and the whole film is a masterclass in subtle storytelling.

8/10