Using the oesophagus to enter the viewer’s belly with a camera – this is what Kieślowski aims to do

Using the oesophagus to enter the viewer’s belly with a camera – this is what Kieślowski aims to do. He tells the simplest stories, with small-scale metaphysics in the background. To many viewers, these stories come as a shock, a revelation. Some emerge from this encounter with their world-view utterly transformed. Does this mean they are normally incapable of philosophical reflection? Or is it that they find their own feelings embarrassing and prefer to hide them from themselves?

“All these things at once,” replies Kieślowski. “As you said, I’m talking about simple matters using the simplest of languages – but I always ask an additional question.” He adds: “Everyone – it doesn’t matter if they are professional philosophers or shoemakers – carries within themselves the question about the meaning of things, and they search for answers. They’ll never find these answers. I ask these questions publicly, through my films, and people are quick to grasp these are the same thoughts and questions they carry inside. Let me give you an example: one dreary winter day in Warsaw, after I’d finished Red, I bought a collection of poems by Wisława Szymborska. The book was meant for my translator in France who loves Szymborska’s work. And as I leafed through it, I found a poem called ‘Love at First Sight’. I read it and it turned out it addressed exactly the same issues I’d just made a film about. In other words, in mid-1993, two people – Wisława in Kraków and myself in Paris – thought about the exact same things in exactly the same way. I needed several million dollars to express them, while Wisława needed a little more than ten lines. This means people can have thoughts in common, even though they don’t know each other. My feeling is I can expect the same of people coming to the cinema – even if they refuse to admit to themselves they are so weak, poor, lonely and helpless as to be in fact powerless. A film has to touch some aspect of the viewer’s emotions. It doesn’t matter if people will laugh or cry at the cinema. Quite simply: I want viewers caught in an emotional trap."

- Krzysztof Kieślowski

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