The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski: Variations on Destiny and Chance by Marek s> Haltof (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS I29 translating to a visual form material so dependent on lexicon and syntax, a problem on which the last film foundered:without the authorialintervention possible in fiction, Shukshin'seccentricsbecome unappealinglyweird. Section three, 'Re-viewing Russia', is the most problematic.BirgitBeumers comparesAndrei Konchalovskii'smore criticalview of Russiawithhisbrother Nikita Mikhalkov'smore idealized one, while Russell Scott Valentino closely reads Mikhalkov's treatment of Russian landscape in Oblomov (I979). Both essayscertainlyhave merit, but given the plethora of filmsthat would serveas equally apt prisms,why two pieces on the Mikhalkovs?And while Catharine Nepomnyashchy explainsthe popularityof the Russian TV seriesof Sherlock Holmes adventuresin her usual engaging style,her attemptsto squeeze it into a post- and anti-colonial overcoat fallshort. The final post-Soviet section consists of Joe Andrew's excellent treatment of gender and narrativein Tolstoi's I872 'Prisonerof the Caucasus'and Sergei Bodrov's I996 film of the same title and Anat Vernitski'shelpful overview of three texts-turned-film. 'The Captain's Daughter' became RussianRevolt (Proshkin,I999);'LadyMacbeth ofMtsensk'became KatiaIzmailova (Todorovskii , I994); The Idiot became Down House (Kachanov, 2001). All three films representresponsesto ratherthan adaptationsof their originals,part of what the volume overallmakesclearis an ongoing and productivedialogue. Department ofModern Languages andLiteratures JOSEPHINE WOLL HowardUniversity, Washington, D.C. Haltof, Marek. TheCinema ofKrzysztofKies`lowski. Variations onDestiny andChance. Directors' Cuts. Wallflower Press, London and New York, 2004. Xiv+ I?9 I pp. Illustrations. Notes. Filmography. Bibliography. Index. [I4.99 (paperback). FOLLOWING LucidDreams,a multi-authored volume edited by Paul Coates (reviewed in SEER,82, 2004, 4, PP. 957-60), this monograph is the second major study of the Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski to appear in the Englishlanguage since his death in I996. The author,MarekHaltof, assistant professor at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, is a film-specialist who has published severalbooks in Englishand Polish, among them a highlyacclaimed general surveyof Polish cinema (PolishNationalCinema, New York, 2002). This new study, handsomely illustratedwith frame-stills,is published aspart of the WallflowerPress'simpressiveDirectors'Cuts series. Haltof's account of the span of Kieslowski'scareeris reliable, comprehensive and compelling. Assuming a broadly auteurist position, his monograph chartsthe development of this director'scareerfrom the film studiesat Lodz, the early commitment to documentary in the late i960s and early I970s, the gradual evolution towards full-length features in the mid-I970s, the moral complexity of works released during the post-i982 period, leading finally to the period of 'emigration' during the i 99os, perhaps the most controversial and challenging from the poetic point of view. One of the great strengthsof this account, apart from the meticulous quality of the research, lies in its contextualization. At every stage of Kieslowski's career Haltof invokes I30 SEER, 84, I, 2006 contemporary parallels as well as relevant precursor works. His discussion of the documentary period, for example, is accompanied by detailed consideration of the various trends emerging in Poland towards the end of the I96os, and the intellectual influence of his teachers and supervisorsat Lodz, as well as their own film-makingpractices. By the same token, as Kieslowski makes his gradual transition toward feature films, Haltof offers an illuminating analysis of the phenomenon of what he calls the 'cinema of distrust' (kino nezaufnosci'), a term preferred to the more conventional 'cinema of moral anxiety' (kinomoralnego nepokoju). These contextualizationsprovide the foundationsforsome penetratinganalysesof individualworks.Rejectingthe necessity or viabilityof allegoricalreadingsin relation to the features,Haltof nevertheless demonstrates an exceedingly subtle and thorough grasp of the social, political and cultural realitieswhich permeate these films, while at the same time emphasizing Kieslowski's refusal to indulge in easy schematization of complex moral issues.The discussionof the post-martiallaw works,including the French co-productions, is equally well informed, with the reception of Kieslowski'sworks both at home and abroad given due prominence. Along with LucidDreams,this study is undoubtedly a major contribution to our understandingof thisdirectorand his work. While the appearanceof thismonographiscertainlya causeforcelebration, thereare (almostinevitablyin a surveyof thiskind)interpretativeavenues still to be explored. The authorhintsat thesepossibleavenues ratherthan engages specificallywith them. While the author is excellent on the Polishcontext, his treatment of wider European intellectual trends and influences tends to be relegated to the margins.In view of the fact that Kieslowskiin his dissertation defended at Lodz cited...