Favourite episodes?


How can there be no discussion about this, one of the greatest miracles on film? I'd just like to know everyone's favourite episodes.

I personally consider 1, 3-6 are my absolute favourites but if I had to pick one it would be #4, honour thy father and mother.

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It's almost impossible to answer - every time I get a list, I think of those I left out, and can't see how they fail to qualify.

The only one that would be guarenteed to be amongst my favourites is #1, but I suspect that's because it's the first I saw, and hence had additional factors in favour of it.

That said, I'll have to settle for including #1 - for reasons mentioned above, #10 - because the robbery broke my heart, and #4, for being possibly the all-time best cinematic inquiry into the parent-child relationship.

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I think, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about this, I think this is the greatest cinematic achievement, bar none. I've watched all the great classics and some are quite great. But many of them are affected and artificial. Or fall within narrow parameters. If we had to put one film in a time capsule to outer space so other civilations could understand us, it would have to be The Decalogue, no question. If ever there was a work of art that explains the Human Condition, this is it. And I've only watched 8 of them so far!

My favorites are #1 and #6; however, most of the others are not far behind. The one that I will have a difficult time watching again is #5 which is quite traumatizing; such ruthless emotionlessness (such a word?), on both sides, is something that haunts me and disturbs me profoundly. Episode 1 has got to be the most personally tragic bit of cinema I can remember, the father and the child. Episode 6 is fascinating, erotic, heartwrenching, and finally, hopeful.

For those of you who have not seen Double Life of Veronique, please run and see it. It's amazing.

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[deleted]

(Spoilers? - does knowing about a movie in advance really spoil it?)

I was thrown a bit at the beginning of the series, because I was trying to see how each one related to each commandment, and got lost when there was no "have no other God before me". I guess that was folded into "I am the Lord your God", while "covet not" was broken into two parts. I'm very glad, because I found 9 one of the weaker of the series, while 10 was fabulous and a perfect way to end. I especially appreciated the way the brothers began to obsess about the stamps as valued possession in themselves, rather than as a easy route to cash and other possessions - the true sign of a compulsive collector. Also, the older brother had the most delightful plastic, expressive face.

But my favorite was 7. It was about stealing on so many levels. Did Majka steal from her mother, or did her mother steal from her? Did they all steal from the teacher/father? And Ania in the end - I think she was the one who had the most stolen from her - her 'real' mother, her sister, her father, her innocence.

Brilliant. I admit it took a while to work through it all, but definitely worth the effort.

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[deleted]

I understand the spoilers rule, I was just making a comment on the nature of watching movies. I personally don't think knowing about a movie in advance in any way degrades the pleasure of watching it (in fact, it often may enhance it). But obviously not all others feel the same way, which is why if I do give out plot details in my posts, I say 'spoilers'. Following the rules here!

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[deleted]

My favorites are 2,5,8. I loved 1 and I think I may be unfair to it because I saw it first (I know many of you feel differently). When I saw it the raw emotion and beauty of it, I think I just wasn't ready. I thought it was great, but not a 10, but by the time I got to some of the later ones I think I was more ready. My least favorite were 3, 9 and 10. 3 was very atypical, and the ending was less true than many of the others. I didn't think it was nearly as revealing or personal as most of the others. 9 was good, but I felt like it skimped on certain scenes that would have been helpful (the proposed expansion would have been great) and in general compared to the incredible standards of the other films I felt it was slightly subpar, if still supurb. 10 is the funniest (and it was great to see the protagonist from White again), but the plot is too formulalic in many ways. I knew from the beginning that the brothers would eventually backstab about the stamps and the robbery seemed to be written on the wall. Still brilliant, but it didn't quite do it for me.
My rankings:
V - from start to finish this is the most gripping. Even the ending with the lawyer screaming "I abhor it!" is just spot on.
VIII - The feeling between the two women is very touching, and it was nice to see Kieslowski make a happier movie with no less force. I almost cried at parts and that is something that I don't generally do.
II - The two main characters are both so complex and interesting. The doctor's decision is one of the few moments in the series where a character seems to have total control over their moral decision (the father's choice in IV is another).
I - This one might be the best as detailed above.
IV - It is difficult to watch it is so charged. I felt myself denying the relationship between the father and girl and each twist only served to deepen the peril of their situation.
VI - The ending is confusing (does the boy stop loving her?) but this is still great.
VII - Could easily be a few spots higher. The ending happens so fast and works so well. The quality of the child acting in this and the first chaper are both fantastic. Compared to some of the hackish work I see from kids in American film, those two were true thespians at a very young age.
IX - Seemed like a watered down compared to some of the better chapters.
X - Somewhat formulalic.
III - Good, but not up to par.

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Clearly, karakalpak2001 knows about the "spoiler" rule; that knowledge is implicit in the comment, however brief.

What bothers you, apparently, is that karakalpak2001 *disagrees* with the "spoiler" rule, or at least has doubts about it. That's not the same thing as being ignorant of it.

My favorite episode is #1 (personal computer as God). Although I suppose this is unsurprising, given that so far I have seen only episodes 1, 8 and 10.

Most reviwers feel episode 8 (the ethics professor, and the Jewish woman who barely survived the Nazi era) is weak, particularly in light of the potentially explosive subject matter. A common criticism is that the actors' performances lack sufficient emotional impact.

I have read descriptions which demean this episode as "sentimental". This is difficult for me to understand.

Suppose the actors had screamed and cried. I find it hard to believe that this would not have been interpreted as overly "sentimental"--or at least histrionic, and perhaps rightfully so!

The story is--in part--about the fact that both characters' lives were radically changed by the event. Ultimately, however, this led to both of them to "move on". (Not entirely, though: otherwise the meeting would never have taken place.)

Approximately 40 years have passed. Even the most pivotal event in your life loses at least some of its emotional impact, decades later.

In my opinion, the performers find the correct tone, given what the screenplay asks of them. If the material is not deeply moving, it is because an emotional distance is inherent in the script.

Yes, episode 8 could have been better. But I believe the fault lies more in the writing than the acting. It doesn't help that the most significant "bearing of false witness" occurred off-screen, if I am interpreting correctly.

Adding yet another topic to this increasingly-unwieldy post: I too am puzzled by the precise connection of the commandments to each episode.

Does the "graven image" commandment apply to episode 1 or 10? This would also assume that the "lord thy God's name in vain" commandment applies to 2, which doesn't fit. (I am aware that others have made different assignments regarding these commandments, tentative though they are.)

Part of the problem here--pardon the blasphemy--is that there really should have been only Nine Commandments. The "no other gods before me" and "graven images" commandments are similar and interwoven.

The author of Exodus "padded" his material to reach a count of ten, so as to coincide with the number of digits on our hands.

I suppose I am beginning to stray from the topic.

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Absolute favorite both in terms of form and content is #5 (V.Thou Shalt Not Kill) for sure. All the actors were superb, even the Marlon Brando-esque taxi driver (Jan Tesarz, who also reminded me of the actor playing the Doctor in #2, Aleksandr Bardini).

This fifth in the set reminded me of Truffaut's The 400 Blows and the French New Wave films not a little - the cinematography (and lighting) was incredible, thanks to Slawomir Idziak (Blue).

Like a previous respondent, I also felt the resonances with Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, which I'd watched much earlier.

The film speaks very strongly to the viewer with respect to the hopelessness felt by the disaffected (or rather, much too affected/sensitive) youth who ends up eventually committing the killing, and also at the absolute lack of control over chance in the ultimate cards dealt by fate.

What can be "controlled", however, is our desensitized tolerance toward legal killing or capital punishment.
If we seek to understand more with our sensitivity for the life of another fellow human being, like the young lawyer Piotr, we may just realise that rather than being mere statistics on the criminal roll, these people are often driven by history or circumstance into a momentary loss of self control that often ruins their lives forever.

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I love episode #7.It's about a young mother who steals her own daughter.
It's really shocking.The episode#9 is another masterpiece in these 10 episodes.

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#1 is still my favorite...
(Spoilers?)

The second to last scene, where they have the shot of the bodies being lifted out of the water, is just perfect. The music, the garbled voices of the newspeople and emergency technicians, the blaring floodlights, and the slowness of it makes it extremely unsettling and tragic to watch. I think that that shot sticks in my mind more than anything I have ever seen.

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man, Im suprised about how many people liked 3 best...I thought it was the weakest of the ten.

Personally, I liked them in the order 6, 1, 5, 7, 10, 9, 2, 8, 4, 3

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[deleted]

I thought V/Short Film about Killing was by far the most powerful.

Overall they are brilliant. But, I know it's perverse to complain that a film about the ten commandments was about the ten commandments/Christianity, but I think that was my dissatisfaction with the ethical lessons of much of it. For example, the worst moral conduct in III was Janusz and Eva driving around recklessly endangering any innocent bystander but the focus seemed to be on their past adultery.

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episode 6,9,7

i didnt like episode 8, it just kind of bored me.
my dekalog dvds seem to be faulty, and its too late to take them back, so i can only view in episode 10 up till the point when the younger brother goes into his fathers house at night after a concert and finds his brother sitting there, after that its all frozen. ahh its ashame, itll be years till i see episode 10 properly. sigh

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I love all except 7 and 8.

Is it just me or does anyone think 7 and 8 stopped this "film" from reaching the "OMFG THIS IS AMAZING" level?

----------------SPOILERS--------------







7 had the most disappointing ending. I wasn't thrilled with it in any sense and almost felt that it could have been done so much better. Maybe I didn't fully understand the ending. I just generally thought it was a really poor conclusion.

8 I just didn't entirely understand either. I had originally predicted that the professor was imagining the woman (in a sort of self-haunting regret) given all the "nutcase" remarks at the apartment complex - and certainly that ending would have been so much better than what it was. (in fact, this ending was pretty horible to).

Perhaps someone could explain these two films better to me as I strongly believe I am missing something.


However, everything else ended perfectly.

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Personally, I liked episode 7 and much because of the ending. The daughter made a very definitive move and you can feel its strong consequences on all the character involved who would have their live changed dramatically. Like someone else pointed out, the acting of the ending scene was very good especially by the little girl.

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