Decalogue VI

Tomek, a nineteen-year-old orphan, works at the post office and watches Magda in the block opposite through a telescope. To see her he sends fake postal notices and makes silent calls. When Magda works out that she is being watched the two come face to face and meet, but the encounter ends in humiliation for Tomek and he attempts suicide. After that it reverses: now Magda is the one obsessed, and she starts looking for him at the post office. Krzysztof Kieslowski directed, co-writing with Krzysztof Piesiewicz. It is the sixth part of Dekalog and its commandment is that you shall not commit adultery. Olaf Lubaszenko plays Tomek and Grazyna Szapolowska plays Magda. Witold Adamek photographed it and Zbigniew Preisner wrote the music. It runs 58 minutes on a budget of 10,000 dollars. Kieslowski expanded this part into an 86-minute feature, A Short Film About Love. Both versions screened at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Who it is for: viewers who want to think about voyeurism, shame and love that runs one way. Who it is not for: anyone uneasy about surveillance placed in a romantic frame. The film does not justify it, but it does seat you behind Tomek's eye.