“Tell me, why do you play voyeur?”
The Polish film A Short Film About Love (Krotki Film o Milosci) from director Krzysztof Kieslowski seems to be a simple tale about obsession, but obsession never really is a simple thing, and it’s never a solitary action–although it may seem so. Once the object of the obsession becomes aware of another’s intense focus, then he or she is dragged into the obsession too, and an unwilling reciprocity begins. And such is the case in A Short Film About Love. The film was originally one of ten films in the director’s Decalogue. But the film was extended to just over 80 minutes and released by Kino.
Young, retiring postal clerk Tomek (Olaf Lubaszenko) is obsessed with his older, attractive neighbour Magda (Grazyna Szapolowska) who lives in the apartment opposite. He times her comings and goings, and spies on her sexual liaisons through a well-placed telescope. Tomek, an orphan who lives with an absent friend’s mother is a lonely emotionally stunted soul. With no friends, and no social life, his world gravitates around glimpses of Magda. Soon Tomek even manufactures additional ingenious ways to catch a glimpse of his obsession. Magda is blissfully unaware that she’s spied on, and through her open curtains, Magda carries on her normal, mostly solitary life, indulging in the occasional sexual liaison.
As Tomek’s obsession intensifies, Magda finally catches on, and her initial reaction is anger at the invasion of her privacy. This gives way to curiosity and she eventually becomes intrigued, and they establish a pseudo relationship. Magda, however attempts to redefine her relationship with Tomek in two ways–both of which end badly.
This tale of loneliness and the emotional distance between damaged souls explores Tomek and Magda’s relationship through the prism of need and love. Magda, whose bitterness shows in the cracks of her sophisticated veneer, no longer believes in love, whereas Tomek has a need to idealize the object of his obsession. Through Tomek, Magda catches a glimpse of what she could be to someone, while Tomek catches stolen glimpses of a woman he can never possess. Magda is too hard and too world-weary to handle Tomek’s sensitivity, and he’s too damaged to cope with anything beyond a relationship in which the telescope maintains a safe distance with his love object. And what if Tomek had stumbled on a 20-year-old version of Magda? What is she stumbled on a 40-year-old version of Tomek? Would anything be different? Could these characters connect? In Polish with subtitles.
