Happy Birthday, Krzysztof Kieślowski! Born today in 1941, this Polish screenwriter and film director translated the mysteries of everyday life into incandescent, richly cinematic reveries with a mix of rigorous philosophical inquiry and operatic emotion.
Born in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, Kielślowski, years later, studied at the National Film School in Łodz.
This is the leading Polish academy for future actors, directors, photographers, camera operators and television staff. Kieślowski eventually graduated as an alma mater.
Kielślowski spent much of his life behind the country’s postwar communist regime (and felt the pains of its control and censorship),
He began his career as a documentarian and then made his first feature. This was at the 1975 Polish television drama film 'Personnel'.
While the early narrative films contained many elements of social realism and political dimension within the intangible and mystical conceits Kieslowski is known for, his work soon discarded many of his overly political ideas.
These later shifted into his unwavering purpose: exploring the metaphysical, random mysteries and paradoxes of the universe via themes of chance, interconnectivity, identity, destiny and more.
His features had some high-concepts on paper. These included films about doppelgangers, rewriting one’s time and history, second chances and reaching beyond parallel alternative universes and even death.
However, each one had a spiritual resonance, an emotional weight, a soulful humanism, and a dramatic texture that made them beautifully profound and enigmatically enrapturing.
In the late 1980s, Kielślowski was best known for co-writing and directed the Polish drama television series Dekalog.
This was alongside Polish lawyer, screenwriter, and politician Krzysztof Piesiewicz.
The music was written by Polish film score composer Zbignew Preisner.
The series consisted of ten one-hour films, inspired by the decalogue of the Ten Commandments.
Each short film explores characters facing one or several moral or ethical dilemmas as they live in an austere housing project in 1980s Poland.
Dekalog is one of fifteen films listed in the category "Values" on the Vatican film list.
Kieślowski received numerous awards during his career. In the late 1980s, these included the 41st Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize, FIPRESCI Prize and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in May 1988.
The following year, he won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 46th Venice Film Festival in September 1989.
Two years later, Kielślowski co-wrote and directed the second film of which he is best known. This was the 1991 French/Polish/Norwegian mystery/drama film 'La double vie de Véronique' ('The Double Life of Veronique').
The film tells of Véronique (Irène Jacob), a beautiful young French woman who aspires to be a renowned singer; Weronika (also Jacob) lives in Poland, has a similar career goal and looks identical to Véronique, though the two are not related.
The film follows both women as they contend with the ups and downs of their individual lives, with Veronique embarking on an unusual romance with Alexandre Fabbri (Philippe Volter), a puppeteer who may be able to help her with her existential issues.
Later that same year, Kielślowski won the 44th Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize, the FIPRESCI and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in May 1991.
That same year, American film director, screenwriter, producer and photographer Stanley Kubrick himself wrote an admiring foreword to the published screenplay.
Two years later, Kielślowski co-wrote and directed the third film of which he is best known.
This was the 1993 French/Polish/Swiss drama/mystery film 'Trois couleurs: Bleu' ('Three Colors: Blue').
'Three Colors: Blue: is the first of three films that comprise the Three Colours trilogy, themed on the French Revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity; specifically emotional liberty, rather than its social or political meaning.
The film is followed by 'Three Colors: White' and 'Three Colors: Red'. However, 'Three Colors: Blue' is among Kieślowski's most celebrated works.
The trilogy is also interpreted[ respectively as an anti-tragedy, an anti-comedy, and an anti-romance.
The first film of the trilogy follows Julie Vignon de Courcy (Juliette Binoche). She is haunted by her grief after living through a tragic auto wreck that claimed the life of her composer husband and young daughter.
Her initial reaction is to withdraw from her relationships, lock herself in her apartment and suppress her pain.
However, avoiding human interactions on the bustling streets of Paris proves impossible, and she eventually meets up with Olivier (Benoît Régent), an old friend who harbors a secret love for her, and who could draw her back to reality.
Later that same year, Kielślowski won the Golden Lion at the 50th Venice Film Festival and the OCIC Award. He received both of these accolades in 1993.
The following year, Kielśowski co-wrote and directed the fourth and final film of which he is best known. This was the 1994 Swiss/French/Polish drama/romance mystery film 'Trois couleurs: Rouge' ('Three Colors: Red').
Part-time model Valentine (Irène Jacob) meets a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who lives in her neighborhood after she runs over his dog.
At first the judge gifts Valentine with the dog, but her possessive boyfriend won't allow her to keep it.
When Valentine returns with the dog to the the judge's house, she discovers him listening in on his neighbor's phone conversations.
At first Valentine is outraged, but her debates with the judge over his behavior soon leads them soon leads them to form a strange bond.
The following year, Kielślowski won the Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear at the 44th Berlinale in February 1994.
One year later, he received Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography for 'Three Colors: Red'. This occurred at the 67th Academy Awards in late March 1995.
In 2002, Kieślowski was listed at number two on the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound list of the top ten film directors of "modern times".
himself once spoke of Kieślowski and his constant screenwriting companion, Krzysztof Piesiewicz.
Kubrick said, “I am always reluctant to single out some particular feature of the work of a major filmmaker because it tends inevitably to simplify and reduce the work…
They [dramatize life] with such dazzling skill, you never see the ideas coming and don’t realize until much later how profoundly they have reached your heart.”
The television series Dekalog, which is Kieślowski's most acclaimed work, was said in 2002 to be "the best dramatic work ever done specifically for television" and has won numerous international awards, though it was not widely released outside Europe until the late 1990s.
Kielślowski had characterized himself as having "one good characteristic, I am a pessimist. I always imagine the worst. To me the future is a black hole."
He has been described as "conveying the sadness of a world-weary sage", "a brooding intellectual and habitual pessimist".
Visiting the United States, he noted "the pursuit of empty talk combined with a very high degree of self-satisfaction".
in the late 1990s, less than two years after he had retired, Kielślowski passed during open-heart surgery following a heart attack.
This occurred on March 13, 1996 in Warsaw. Kielślowski was 54.
Today, Kieślowski remains one of Europe's most influential directors; his works included in the study of film classes at universities throughout the world.
Kieślowski had been active from 1966–1996.
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