Sunday, September 8, 2013

A Favorite: Dekalog IX "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife"

The ninth episode of Kieslowsi's "Dekalog" is a vast improvement from the eighth episode. The cinematography, which highlights the more dramatic elements of the story with inventive shots, and especially the music (it made me think of "Blue" in Kieslowski's "Trois Colours Trilogy") are positively perfect. Although one might have expected episode six "Thou shalt not commit adultery" to be about marital infidelity, it is saved for this episode. The episode begins with the husband (a heart surgeon) finding out from his doctor that he has erectile dysfunction. He and his wife must figure out how to work their relationship under such circumstances. Without emotion he honorably tells his wife that, if she decides to stay with him, she can have sexual relationships with other men. Nevertheless, the husband isn't sure of his decision or his wife anymore. He notices a physics notebook in their car, he (though not very tactfully) taps their home phone, and he makes a copy of the key to his mother-in-law's apartment. He suspects his wife is cheating on him with a physics graduate student in his mother-in-law's apartment. There is also a side-story about the heart surgeon's beautiful patient, which reflects his own conundrums. This is my fifth favorite episode. I especially love how just when we think the film has reached it's dramatic conclusion, it has not. The ending is probably the most moving out of all of the "Dekalog" films. 

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