anybody got any idea who that man is? or what he represents? we get to see him twice, he's like the witness to tomek's happiness & sadness (the first time tomek asks the woman for ice cream, and before the suicide), or maybe there's more that i didn't notice. thank you!
share Sure, that is the actor Artur Barcis. I'd love to tell you who I think he represents but I think it would be better if you actually watched the ten-part TV series The Decalogue in order to form your own opinion.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092337/
The Decalogue is a 10 episode TV series that Kieslowski did in the late '80's for Polish television. Each episode covers one of the Ten Commandments, hence the name "The Decalogue", which is the Greek name for "The Ten (Commandments)".
Artur Barcis appears, I believe, in nine out of the ten episodes.
A Short Film About Love is a longer feature film version (with a different ending!!) of the 56 minute episode of Decalogue Six: Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery.
If you are impatient and want to spoil the surprise for yourself, leave another message in this thread and I will (grudgingly) tell you who I think Artur Barcis represents.
[deleted]
[deleted]
Check out this discussion: www.imdb.com/title/tt0092337/board/nest/16332661?p=1.
-- TopFrog
The name of the actor is Artur Barcis (who also appears in "No End"). The Character appears in 8 out of 10 episodes from "The Decalogue", always in the same way: he is just there watching but never intervening in the affairs of the others.
There are many theories about what represents this character. I myself thought about a couple of them.
Does he represent God/Jesus?
Is he an "angel" who is watching us like in Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire"?
Does he represent Kieslowski himself, his alter ego?
Does he represent us, the audience who are watching the events but cannot intervene?
Well, Kieslowski in an interview destroys all our theories but at the same time let an open door for further explanations. Contradictory? perhaps, but better read it for yourself
Taken from Roger Ebert review on "The Decalogue":
There is a young man who appears in eight of them, a solemn onlooker who never says anything but sometimes makes sad eye contact. I thought perhaps he represented Christ, but Kieslowski, in an essay about the series, says, "I don't know who he is; just a guy who comes and watches us, our lives. He's not very pleased with us."
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000402/REVIEWS08/4020301/1023
I think it sounds most like the 'angel' theory then like 'wings'.
Always watching and not meant to be intervening and definitely rather annoyed at human greed and violence.
Plus he can't just be a normal person because he'd not have so much time to watch people as he'd have to have a job to pay the bills!
I'm really going to have to track down this dekalog - it sounds superb!
Do, it really is.
Strangely, he actually appears to *have* a job - or rather, different jobs - in different episodes of the series. He turns up as a tram driver, a painter/decorator etc, as well as a tramp and a drifter. It's all very odd, but it's like almost everything else in Kieslowski, you get to put your own personal meaning on it and it'll differ from what of 99 other people each think it means. I love it.
in 8 out of 10 episodes
In 9, actually. In one of them he just appears for a second, but he's still there.
I assumed he was a gay guy cruising Tomek. Perhaps a representation of that side of Tomek's psyche. He certainly looks at him and smiles in that way. Just a thought.
If we are to be brothers, let us be brothers for life, die together.
Ha. Yes. I thought the man in the white was cruising Tomek as well, but was confused by the point of including it in the story. Also, I'm not sure that's what Kieslowski was intending the strange man to be gay, but from a contemporary point-of-view he certainly seems to be checking-out Tomek.
sharethis is a fun thread
shareAfter viewing all ten Dekalog films,it becomes apparent that this man is a representation of God or a devine being or even a conscience. He appears when the characters are at their weakest. He is most effectively used in Short Film About Killing. The reaction he get's from Jacek when he knowingly stares at him through the taxi window shortly before the murder, is a classic and chilling image.
It's less apparent from the two cinema releases (KILLING and LOVE) who he represents, but if you watch the Dekalog, you'll soon "get" him more.
[deleted]