Dan Conley

Romek: You should find someone else if you haven’t already. Hansa: No, I haven’t … some things are better left unsaid. These two lines, and the space between them, define episode 9. There’s a fascinating dynamic that has been established, where the marriage has basically been opened up,

We finally arrive at the episode that began my journey through the Dekalog. After finishing my “The Double Life of Veronique” series, I had an idea of going back to Episode 9 of the Dekalog, where the fictional composer Van den Budenmeyer was first introduced and a Weronika-like character would

Before I get onto the conclusion of this episode, I want to recount the ways it is a disappointment: 1) Filler. As I’ve noted in previous essays, this episode has maybe 30 minutes of story and lots of padding around it to make it take the same form of

Elżbieta gets up to leave, she puts on her coat and scarf and thanks Zofia. She asks her if she knows the people to whom she was originally going to be placed back in 1943 — the ones who were accused of collaborating with the gestapo. Zofia, with hesitatation, says that

I have been thinking a lot lately about the division and violence in this country and how much it relates to mental health. And then I remembered this quote from Montaigne’s essay “On Virtue:” Except for order, moderation, and constancy, I believe that all things are possible for a

I will try to put aside my disappointments about this episode for today’s essay and accept it for what it is. I think, on some level, the two Kyrzsztofs who wrote this episode — Kieslowkski and Pietsiewicz — fell in love with a character they created. That isn’t such a