In November and December, our special series is dedicated to Final Cut: remarkable endings in the broadest sense of the word.
A Short Film About Love (1988) is about anything but ordinary love. Tomek, a 19-year-old, begins spying on his much older neighbor, Magda. Through the lens of his telescope, Tomek follows her during all her sexual escapades and develops a distant obsession. But what happens to their power dynamic when she decides to close the distance?
In this romantic thriller, Kieślowski expands on the final episode of the Dekalog series, which he directed. He mercilessly captures the vulnerable, lustful, and at times brutally cruel side of love. The viewer is confronted with a literally distorted vision of love and desire: Tomek’s lenses and the windows of their respective apartments warp their perspective. We never see things as they truly are…