Decalogue IX

Doctor Roman is diagnosed as impotent. He tells his wife Hanka she is no longer obliged to stay; she says she will, and goes on seeing a young man named Mariusz. Roman finds out and starts watching: listening on the phone, waiting in a wardrobe, following by car. The collapse ends in a suicide attempt on a bicycle. The film closes with Hanka learning he is injured and taking his call from the hospital. Krzysztof Kieslowski directed, co-writing with Krzysztof Piesiewicz. It is the ninth part of Dekalog and its commandment is that you shall not covet your neighbour's wife. Ewa Blaszczyk plays Hanka, Piotr Machalica plays Roman and Jan Jankowski plays Mariusz. Piotr Sobocinski photographed it, Zbigniew Preisner wrote the music, it runs 58 minutes and cost 10,000 dollars. One detail grew later: a minor character in this episode became the starting point for Kieslowski and Piesiewicz's next film, The Double Life of Veronique. Who it is for: viewers who like jealousy told from inside the man rather than from outside. Who it is not for: anyone uncomfortable watching surveillance at length. The film does not hurry through Roman's watching.