Early life
Krzysztof Kieślowski was born in German-occupied Warsaw on 27th June 1941. After the war, he failed the entrance exam to Łódź Film School twice and as a result had to go to considerable lengths to avoid the military draft. In various anecdotes, he described going on a drastic diet, avoiding water for a dangerous length of time, as well as feigning mental illness - to trick the army into disqualifying him from service on health grounds.
He was finally admitted to the Łódź Film School in 1964. His interviews and autobiographical publications reveal his cheeky sense of humour as a young man. He described how he and his colleagues used to place bets about an elderly woman who used to take bottles to the recycling each day - exactly where she would be at what time. He recreated this scene in one of his most famous films - "Three Colours: Blue"
Early films
Kieślowski's early films were short documentaries, several of which are available on the Łódź Film School Youtube Channel. These films already carry his trademark concern with both morality and the absurd, such as the short documentary "Social Security Office" / "Urząd" which delivers a quiet but devastating critique of inhuman bureacracy under communism.
Political attitudes
Kieslowski's political attitudes were nuanced. He was anti-communist and his film Chance ("Przypadek") was censored. The film's hero (played by a young Bogusław Linda), lives his life according to three different "scenarios" - depending on whether he catches a train or not. In each "life" he has completely different ideological attitudes.
Kieślowski's 1984 film No End ("Bez końca") was criticised both by communist officials as "anti-socialist" but also by opposition activists and the Catholic Church. He disliked the use of terms like "oni" - "they" - to imply that communists are all bad and everyone else is "fantastic".
Decalogue
When Kieślowski's cycle of ten films based on the Ten Commandments was shown for the first time in Britain as a series, on BBC2, the distinguished film critic Derek Malcolm introduced the screening and referred to him as the most important European film director of the time.
"Magical Realism"
Kieślowski's 1991 film The Double Life of Veronique, set in Poland and France, introduced a softer aesthetic to his audiences. The "magic" of the film was both in its style and its subject-matter - a magical puppet show is featured and the idea of the drama is that two young women grow up in different countries with a subtly supernatural connection. The film brought Kieslowski popularity with a broader audience.
Co-creators
Two co-creators were an integral part of creating the world of Kieślowski's films - the multitalented Krzysztof Piesiewicz (a lawyer, senator and screenwriter) and the composer Zbigniew Preisner. Kieślowski famously liked to change his cinematographers, the list of his cameramen, alumni of the Łódź Film School, including Sławomir Idziak.
Krzysztof Kieślowski 27 June 1941 - 13 March 1996
Sources: "Kieślowski on Kieślowski", Łódź Film School Youtube Channel, IMDB, Twitter, Wikipedia.
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