Dekalog

1989 - 1990

Dekalog: One

10th December 1989

Episode 1

“I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other God but me.” Ten-year-old Pawel and his father Krzysztof run their lives on their beloved home computer, while Pawel’s aunt worries that his spiritual education is being neglected. But Pawel is too busy enjoying life, not least thanks to his father’s Christmas present of a pair of ice skates, because the computer has calculated that the frozen lake is safe to skate across…

Dekalog: Two

Episode 2

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” An elderly doctor is approached by a woman with a complicated request. Her husband is gravely ill and may die, and she is pregnant by someone else. If her husband dies, she wants to keep the child, but not otherwise, and she wants the doctor to give him an honest verdict on his chances. But the doctor is disturbed by her request, because his answer will directly affect the life or death of another human being. Is he entitled to play God?

Dekalog: Three

Episode 3

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Janusz is a taxi driver. It’s Christmas Eve, and he honours the (Polish) traditions for this (holy) day: he gives presents to the members of his family and attends Midnight Mass. Later, Ewa, a woman who he had betrayed his wife with three years earlier, asks him to help her. Her husband is missing, and she asks him to help her search for him. Should Janusz stay home to keep the day holy? Or should he help Ewa, who says she needs his help, to keep the day holy? Is it his duty to help her? This episode seems to be about both…

Dekalog: Four

Episode 4

“Honour thy father and thy mother.” Young Anka and her father have lived together since her mother’s death, and have always been more like close friends than father and daughter. One day, Anka discovers a letter from her mother whose contents make her question her whole relationship with her father… if that’s indeed who he is.

Dekalog: Five

Episode 5

“Thou shalt not kill.” A shorter, slightly less graphic version of “A Short Film About Killing,” but the plot is essentially the same: murder followed by execution, two killings, one illegal, one legal, both hideous.

Dekalog: Six

Episode 6

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” A shorter, scaled-down version of “A Short Film About Love,” with a less complex plot and a different ending—though the basic narrative about the relationship between a lonely 19-year-old boy and the thirty-something artist that he spies on every night is the same.

Dekalog: Seven

Episode 7

“Thou shalt not steal.” But in this case the “theft” is of a child by her real mother, who then finds herself emotionally unable to cope with the responsibility, while the stable and loving family that brought the child up are distraught.

Dekalog: Eight

Episode 8

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” A Polish-American researcher visits Warsaw and attends a lecture about ethics. Afterwards, she approaches Zofia, the lecturer, and says that she is the little Jewish girl whom Zofia refused to shelter during World War II. But Zofia has a very good reason for her apparent cowardice…

Dekalog: Nine

Episode 9

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife.” Roman, after discovering his impotence, urges his wife Hanka to take a lover. She reluctantly complies, and Roman, despite his earlier words, becomes obsessively jealous. Spying on her, he learns of her affair, and vows to kill himself—not knowing that Hanka was in fact breaking off the relationship…

Dekalog: Ten

Episode 10

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods.” Especially not when it leads to the conclusion of this black comedy about two brothers who inherit their father’s valuable stamp collection and end up paying rather more than they bargained for…

Top Cast

Dekalog (pronounced [dɛˈkalɔk]) is a 1989 Polish drama television miniseries directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and co-written by Kieślowski with Krzysztof Piesiewicz, with music by Zbigniew Preisner. It consists of ten one-hour films, inspired by the decalogue of the Ten Commandments for thematic inspiration and an overarching structure, grapple deftly with complex moral and existential questions concerning life, death, love, hate, truth, and the passage of time. Each installment explores characters facing one or several moral or ethical dilemmas as they reside in an austere housing project in 1980s Poland, whose lives become subtly intertwined as they face emotional dilemmas that are at once deeply personal and universally human.

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Full Crew

Ewa Smal Image

Ewa Smal

Editor

Ryszard Chutkowski

Producer

Zbigniew Preisner Image

Zbigniew Preisner

Original Music Composer

Andrzej Buhl

Producer

Halina Dobrowolska

Production Design

Magdalena Dipont Image

Magdalena Dipont

Set Decoration

Hanna Ćwikło

Costume Design

Małgorzata Obłoza

Costume Design

Dorota Seweryńska

Makeup Artist

Jolanta Pruszynska

Assistant Makeup Artist

Jadwiga Cichocka

Assistant Makeup Artist

Paweł Mantorski

Production Manager

Włodzimierz Bendych

Production Manager

Teresa Violetta Buhl

First Assistant Director

Robert Czesak

Set Designer

Grazyna Tkaczyk

Set Designer

Sławomir Janowski

Assistant Art Director

Anna Iskierka-Malasnicka

Assistant Art Director

Waldemar Weiss

Construction Coordinator

Józef Trzoch

Lighting Technician

Marek Modzelewski

Lighting Technician

Tomasz Gradowski

Lighting Technician

Jerzy Tomczuk

Gaffer

Helena Tarnacka

Wardrobe Supervisor

Jolanta Wlodarczyk

Assistant Costume Designer

Urszula Reklajtis

Assistant Editor

Henryka Dancygier

Assistant Editor

Miroslawa Serafin

Script Supervisor

Mirosław Mentcel

Title Designer

Robert Brzeziński Image

Robert Brzeziński

Consulting Producer

Franciszek Szydełko

Consulting Producer

Andrzej Zaczyński

Consulting Producer

Stefan Witkowski

Property Master

Dariusz Brus

Property Master

Krzysztof Budzyński

Property Master

Bożena Mrówczyńska

Production Secretary

Anna Sacharczuk

Assistant Production Manager

Włodzimierz Dziatkiewicz

Assistant Production Manager

Zbigniew Preisner Image

Zbigniew Preisner

Conductor

Zbigniew Preisner Image

Zbigniew Preisner

Score Engineer

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